Greek to Grandad
by Charlotte-xoxo
Summary: Edward's life has moved on. He and Bella thought that their high school days were over. They were wrong! Because there are some things that have a knack of coming back to haunt you! Will their love survive the oncoming storm? Sequel to 'Geek to Greek'.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: OK, so it's finally here. This is the long (ish!) awaited sequel to 'Geek to Greek'. If you are reading this and you haven't read that you might like too first, but it isn't essential. The link is on my profile.**

**Enjoy!**

**Anyway, so I forgot to put this in my last AN of 'Geek to Greek', but some people wanted me to answer some questions. The answers are on my profile but here they are again anyways.**

**1.) Yes, my real name **_**is**_** Charlotte. Shocking, I know, but it is true!**

**2.) I am 16 years old. I know a lot of you thought I was older/younger, whatever. Sorry to disappoint… 16 it is!**

**3.) No, I have never actually read **_**'the article' **_**(if you catch my drift). It is purely fiction (as far as I know), but I would love to see it if it was real.**

**Hope that clears everything up. Message me if you have anything else you want me to clear up, or questions about anything in my story either. Thanks.**

**One more thing… the winners of my little: 'Why I Love Twilight' competition are as follows. Please don't get upset if you weren't picked, I loved every single entry and it was really, really hard to choose. I hope you guys I picked won't mind me putting your names on here.'**

**Sarah - Sarahbeara (it wont let me put your username for some reason)**

**Tiffany - Tif1**

**Emma - Twilight-Muffins and Wemseee – Emma (It was impossible to pick between you, and then I realised that you had the same name. It made my life so much easier.)**

**These OCs won't come in until next chapter, but there they are anyway, just so you know who you are. Thanks, and sorry about the monster AN.**

**Charlotte-xoxo**

Chapter 1: Do I Know You?

EPOV

I sat, hunched over and tense, in the little, cream love seat by the window. The leather felt hot and sweaty under my palms, as I gripped the arm fiercely. I had my eyes fixed firmly in my lap, and I was trying futilely to psych myself up for what I knew was coming.

I jumped in surprise when I felt a cold, soft hand on the top of my own, rubbing soothing, comforting circles with its thumb. I looked up cautiously into the concerned, gentle eyes of my wife. Bella smiled warmly back at me and my heart instantly felt that little bit less heavy.

"Hey," she said softly, her thumb continuing to trace comforting patterns across the back of my hand. I flipped my hand over quickly, and caught her hand as it moved. She automatically intertwined her fingers with mine, a small, intimate sign of her love and acceptance for me after all these years. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I assured her hurriedly. I knew that she would see right past my feeble façade, but I still attempted to reassure her anyway, giving her hand a soft squeeze and smiling tightly. We had been married for almost fifteen years, and we had been together for three years before that. Nothing I did could fool her anymore, she simply knew me too well.

"Seriously, Edward!" She cocked an eyebrow and grinned, the cheeky seventeen year old I had fallen in love with resurfacing in an instant. She had aged extremely gracefully; the years had been much kinder to her than to me. I now looked much older than her, her older man; compared to the gorgeous guy I had been in high school.

I snorted, my laughter filling the silent living room. I had never been gorgeous. I had turned out okay in the end, a slow developer, but I had never reached the heights of Mike Newton and the other high school hotheads.

I wondered for a brief moment what Mike would look like now. And Jessica, Tyler, Angela… Tanya. I hadn't seen any of them for years, since graduation in fact. I made a mental note to look up Tanya's number and give her a call; it would be nice to hear from her again. Then, the sensible, rational part of my brain caught up with the other, reminiscent, part. I had to focus on the present, or I would lose it completely.

"What's really bothering you?" Bella asked me, curling up onto the seat beside me and laying her head lightly on my shoulder. I sighed and leaned into her, the muscles in my back and neck loosening fractionally. She always knew exactly what to do to make me feel better, to relax. I had mused on occasion if she could actually read my mind. It would explain her intimate knowledge of exactly how to read me, what words to say to me, what affectionate gesture would help me to relax.

"Well," I hesitated, unsure as to how to explain it. I would sound so stupid and childish if I told her. "I… um, I don't know how to do this sort of thing." I blurted, pulling her onto my lap gently, and hugging her close to me. "I'm nervous." I hadn't even admitted that fact to myself, it had just slipped out, but I instantly felt much better simply acknowledging my fear.

"Don't be. It's not like she's getting married Edward!" She looked up into my eyes and gave me a long, loving kiss. What started out soft and gentle soon became rougher and more passionate. Bella's fingers gripped my hair and I moaned. Even after eighteen years, she could still make me yearn for her, by just a single touch.

"Thank God!" I exclaimed, as we broke off, both breathing heavily. "I don't think I would survive that." I shuddered at the thought. My only daughter… married. It didn't bear thinking about. "She is bringing home…" I gulped, not wanting to say it. I didn't have to; Bella finished my sentence for me.

"Her boyfriend Edward! Our baby girl is bringing her boyfriend because he wanted to meet you. You need to behave!" Her voice was stern now, still kind but willing me not to ruin this. For either of them.

Renesmee Carlie Cullen had been born sixteen and a half years ago, on the same day that I asked Bella to marry me. I had been the happiest day of my life to date, even more so than our wedding less than a year later, although that had been truly magical too.

Bella's pregnancy had been a complete accident, an unforeseen, but nonetheless welcome, joy in our lives. Nine months later we were in the hospital in Forks, where my father Carlisle had delivered a healthy, strong baby girl into the world. Looking down upon my beautiful wife and daughter sharing their first moments together, I had been so overwhelmed with emotion that I knew I had to make Bella mine officially as soon as possible, so that we could truly be a family.

I had got down on one knee, right there on the delivery room floor, and told both Bella and our daughter how much I loved them, and then took the biggest leap of my life.

"Will you marry me?" She had gasped, and then started sobbing uncontrollably, still clutching Renesmee to her chest. I had immediately felt remorse for causing her to be upset, it clearly wasn't the right time. I should have waited. I stood up quickly, moving to her bedside to take her hand in mine. "I'm sorry love, I shouldn't have done that. Forgive me!"

"No, no. I'm sorry!" she whispered, still slightly faint. I frowned, why was she apologising? "Do that again so I can answer you properly." I nodded, still unsure why she wanted this, but I did as she asked. She wiped her eyes swiftly, one arm still supporting our baby.

"Isabella Marie Swan. I love you more than life itself. Truly I do! Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" She swallowed thickly, and then answered in a clear, confident voice.

"Yes." Then, her voice broke and she started to cry again. This time it was clearly a happy kind of tears, because she was smiling beatifically as the tears rolled down her cheeks. "Of course it's a yes, Edward. I love you too." My face lit up like a beacon, like fairy lights at Christmas, she told me afterwards. I pulled up a chair beside the bed and we sat in silence, watching our beautiful daughter as she slept for the first time.

I had no ring due to the impromptu proposal, but I didn't need one. All that mattered was that Bella had said yes. That she wanted to be mine forever.

"Honey, there here." Bella's voice broke through the haze of happy memories and thoughts of my current predicament in a tidal wave of nerves and apprehension. I couldn't hide for ever; my baby was growing up and I wasn't going to miss a moment. I took Bella's hand and we walked towards the door, just as the doorbell began to ring.

BPOV

I opened the door, glancing quickly at Edward to check how he was holding up. He had been nervous all day and I really didn't want him to embarrass Renesmee or her boyfriend by saying something careless. He seemed composed, so I smiled and turned to the two teenagers standing on the porch.

I gasped, the boy standing next to my daughter was shocking familiar, but I couldn't quite place him. I was sure that I hadn't met him before, but he was definitely familiar. A slight increase in pressure on my hand from Edward confirmed that he had noticed it too. It was so weird, like the solution to a crossword clue that you know is just beyond your grasp. You can feel it tugging on your mind, desperate to make itself known, but not quite close enough to make out.

"Hi Mr and Mrs Cullen!" the boy said cheerfully. Even his voice seem familiar, it was so frustrating. "It's nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you from Nessie." I grimaced inwardly at the boy's unknowing mistake and felt Edward tense up beside me. I knew just how much that nickname for his little princess annoyed him, but I hoped he would be able to cast his pet peeves aside and try to be friendly.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" I asked curiously as I leant forward to shake his hand. Edward did the same somewhat reluctantly, and then slung an arm around my shoulder protectively. He was clearly trying to show off his status as the 'alpha male', the way all men do when interacting with new people. I caught Renesmee's gaze and we both rolled our eyes. We knew only to well what Edward was like.

EPOV

Bella asked the question that I had been just about to ask and I waited, mildly interested, for the response. The lad seemed oddly familiar to both me and Bella, and I just couldn't figure it out.

"I don't think so." he said softly, looking thoughtful and slightly puzzled. Clearly not the sharpest Crayola in the packet. "I'm Jay, by the way." I nodded curtly, still waiting for him to work it out. Good Lord that boy was slow; it would have taken Mike Newton less time to process!

"I guess it's possible you could know my dad." he mused. "He apparently looks just like me, and he used to go to school here in Forks." Interesting, that could be possible. I tried to remember the faces of my classmates, to work out who he could be.

"Who would that be?" Bella asked, sounding excited now.

"Jacob." he said, and I shook my head. No, anything but that! I begged silently for him not to say it what I knew would come next, for it to be someone else… Anyone else! "Jacob Black." To my left, Bella gasped in shock, and I turned just in time to catch her as she fainted.

**AN: So… what do you think? Unusual enough for you? Review and give me some love people. I will continue to reply to every single one! Thank you! – Charlotte-xoxo**

**PS. Updates for this sequel will be a bit slower than for Geek to Greek. Probably one a week, on average. Sorry, I have too much to do.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Sorry it's been so long. I don't really have an excuse, I've just been busy. This one may not be as polished or exciting as you would like, I've just not had the time, but I hope you guys like it anyways.**

**PS. It will get really exciting, really soon. I promise! I'm just working up to it.**

RECAP: "Jacob." he said, and I shook my head. No, anything but that! I begged silently for him not to say it what I knew would come next, for it to be someone else… Anyone else! "Jacob Black." To my left, Bella gasped in shock, and I turned just in time to catch her as she fainted.

BPOV

"Jacob Black." I heard the words ringing menacingly in my ears as the world went black.

When I came to I was sitting on the porch, cradled against Edward's chest as he glared at something, or someone, over my head. It was obvious who was causing the hatred to literally roll off him, Jay must still be here. Good! I needed to talk to him, and to Nessie, and clear this mess up. The poor boy must have been feeling awful, watching me faint like that. I had to let him know that it wasn't his fault, that I felt no animosity at all towards him. You can't choose your parents after all.

I shifted gently, letting Edward know I was conscious, and his eyes immediately flashed to my face.

"God Bella, are you OK?" he asked quickly, almost frantically, as his eyes flashed with worry and lingering glimmers of anger. I didn't like that side of him at all. I frowned at him silently, then finally his face softened and he kissed my forehead gently. "Please, say something Bells?"

"I'm fine Edward." I gave him a quick peck on the lips, and then scrambled as gracefully to my feet as I could, considering my dizziness and natural lack of balance. I began to tip sideways slightly, swaying from the vertigo, but Edward steadied my arm instinctively; a by product of many years of marriage to the klutz. I smiled up at him where he stood protectively by my side, then looked out towards the teenage couple still standing on the porch.

"Come in Jay," I said, trying to be the perfect host, despite the setback. "Nessie, show his into the sitting room please?" The two of them dutifully traipsed into the hall of our cottage, then into the snug room off to the side. They seated themselves beside the fireplace, hand in hand, the unspoken questions that were inevitably on the way hanging over them like a slightly rancid cloud of gloom. Better to get it over with, I reasoned. It would have to happen some time. Edward and I took up our places on the sofa opposite and I hastened to be pleasant. He was my daughter's first boyfriend after all.

"So," I hesitated, not sure where to start. "How long have you lived in Forks?" The question was directed at Jay, but Nessie answered for him.

"He doesn't live in Forks, mum!" she said, as if it should be obvious. "They live down in La Push. His dad's family have lived here for a long time, but Jay and his dad only moved back a year or so ago."

"Oh," was all I said, and then I ploughed on with my next question. "Um, you didn't mention your mum Jay. Do you...? I mean…" I trailed off, not wanting to offend anyone with probing questions. His mother could be dead, or worse. It wasn't my place.

"She is shit!" Jay's voice was harsh and grating as he spat out the words. I could see his father's anger flashing in his eyes. So similar, yet so different. "She buggered off after I was born, married a stripper." My eyebrows flew up and I struggled to find something to say. What do you say after that?

"Was she someone we might have known?" I asked, curiously.

"Probably," he said heatedly. "Her maiden name was Stanley. She now goes by Jess Drayfuss." Oh! So Jess had finally found her happily ever after, and with a stripper no less. She had just had a kid with Jake first. Poor boy, with parents like that!

"What is our 'buddy' Jacob doing with himself now, anyway?" Edward asked; the sarcasm clearly audible in his tone.

"Real estate!" That was clearly all we were going to get about that. I opened my mouth to ask another question, but Jay was already asking one of his own. "So, what's the deal with you guys and my dad then? You seemed pretty shocked Mrs Cullen." Oh well, I knew it was coming.

"He was… a very close friend through part of high school." I knew it was a cryptic answer, but I was trying to be as truthful as possible without telling the whole truth. Jay frowned, his eyebrows knitting together the way Jake had used to when he concentrated. I noticed with a hint of surprise that I could discern part of his mother in him too, in his hazel eyes and the ridge of his nose.

"Cool," Jay murmured, still in mid muse. "What was your maiden name Mrs Cullen? I wonder if he ever mentioned you."

"My name is Bella. Bella Swan." I said grudgingly, not eager to give any that little bit of information. I had no way of knowing what Jake might have told Jay about me. What I didn't expect, however, was for Jay to snort loudly then start laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh. My. God. Bella Swan… You're the one… My mom said… He fucked with… Damn; my father really was a player! I didn't believe him when he said about stringing you and my mom along for… how long was it?" He looked up at me, as if expecting me to know the answer. I stared at him, dumfounded. "A couple of months?"

At that, Edward exploded, leaping out of his seat and screaming bloody murder across the room at Jay, who looked horrified at what he had just said.

"Get out! Get the hell out of my house!" Jay looked once from me to Nessie and back, and then murmured a garbled apology before leaving. "Go to your room Renesmee!" Edward thundered, fury still bubbling inside of him. I stood up and placed myself firmly between me daughter and husband.

"Edward, calm down. It's not her fault." He calmed slightly as I rested my hand on his chest, but still looked ready to kill.

"I don't care," he hissed. "You will never see that boy again, Renesmee. Do you understand?" She looked shocked, then the Cullen attitude flared and she began to fight back.

"Why? Why can't I?"

"Because I say so, now get out of my sight." He yelled, before turning and storming off into the garden to cool off. I turned apologetically to Nessie and sighed.

"Give him some time, honey!" I gave her arm a squeeze. "Jay's dad did some pretty bad stuff to us in high school. Your dad just got a bit touchy."

"Mom, I'm not stupid!" she snapped. "I know he cheated on you, that much is obvious. I'll talk to you in the morning." With that, she headed out in to the hall and I heard her climb the stairs a few moments later. I hurried into the kitchen, found the phone hidden under a pile of papers, and rung the first number I could think of.

"Hey, Emma!" I said cheerily when my friend picked up at the other end.

"Hey, Bells."

"Um, can you call Sarah and Tiffany and get them to come over as soon as possible. Oh, and Rose and Alice too if you can. I need you guys!" She responded quickly, saying that everyone who was available would be over first thing in the morning, then she hung up.

Finally, I headed out, slightly nervously, into the garden to have a good heart to heart with a very angry Edward.

**AN: Review! Hate it, review! Love it, review! Thanks! I'll try not to leave it so long next time!**

**Charlotte-xoxo**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Please don't get annoyed because I skipped the garden scene, it'll be referenced in this chapter and I'll come back to it. I have a plan, trust me… at least I think I do?!**

RECAP: Finally, I headed out, slightly nervously, into the garden to have a good heart to heart with a very angry Edward.

BPOV

I stood motionless at the bottom of the stairs, thinking through everything that had happened in the past three or four hours. My daughter had introduced her boyfriend to us, he had turned out to be Jacob's child and he had destroyed my family in thirty seconds flat.

Edward and Nessie were refusing to speak to each other, neither wanting to be the first to back down. They were as stubborn as each other, an unfortunate trait Edward had passed down, and they both wanted to win the 'battle of silence'.

I thought the whole thing was stupid and had told both of them that. I had made it very clear to each in turn that I didn't care who Jay was, I only cared that my baby was happy.

"That's the most important… no, the only important thing," I had told Nessie as I came to hug her goodnight, having left her to calm down for an hour or so. "Are you happy?" That was all that really mattered.

"I am," she said firmly, and that was all I had needed to hear. I would do everything in my power to make her happy.

Edward had calmed down a lot since I had chastised him in the front garden, and he was watching television when I had come down from Nessie's room. I knew exactly what I needed to do; Edward just wasn't going to like it at all.

"Hun?" I asked gently, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. I wasn't sure exactly how much he had calmed down, but I didn't want to aggravate him further. He looked up from the flickering depths of CNN and smiled at me, patting the seat next to him. I sat down, pulled my feet up under myself, and hugged him tightly. "Edward, we need to… urm." I didn't know how to put it.

"What? We need to what?" he asked softly, kissing the top of my head. "I'm calm now, I can take it… whatever it is. Sorry!" He started playing absently with my hair and I relaxed into him further, attempting to get my request out.

"You're not going to like it, but I think we should invite-the-Blacks-for-lunch." I said it as fast and quiet as possible, hoping he wouldn't get to angry. He stiffened, but then sighed instead of whatever reaction my subconscious had been expecting.

"You're right," he said sadly, his beautiful green eyes boring into mine, creating an overwhelming intensity that I couldn't resist. I didn't want to! "I should go and find Nessie… apologise," he continued, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before getting up wearily. He left the room and I curled up into the sofa, breathing in his smell on the sofa. It never failed to settle my nerves and I drifted into a semi-peaceful sleep, interspersed with flashes of faces long forgotten, long suppressed. Jacob… Jessica… that night so many years ago when they had broken my heart.

EPOV

I woke up early the next morning, cradling Bella to my chest as she shifted and shook in her sleep. I had carried her to bed late the previous night, having reconciled with Nessie, and she had been sleeping fitfully even then. She had kept muttering things like Jake, and Jess. I knew what she was thinking about, what she was thinking about, and it infuriated me. However, she had made me promise to be good, so I would do my best.

I contented myself to hold her, to watch her beautiful face whilst she slept. It grounded me and helped me focus on her, on my beloved Bella. I couldn't mess this up. If she wanted to try and patch up her relationship with Jake, who was I to stop her. I would support her decision no matter what!

An hour later, Bella woke up, the light streaming blindingly bright through our window now. She turned over until her face was inches from my chest. I bent my head down and kissed her, putting all my acceptance of her decision and contrition into the kiss. She groaned and wound her fingers into my hair, which was still super sensitive to her touch after all these years.

I wrapped my other arm around her shoulder blades and began to deepen the kiss, the heat and desire building between the two of us. We both still knew exactly how to push each other's buttons and I was still just as attracted to her as I had been when I had married her. I had my hand on her hip, about to lift her nightshirt over her head when the doorbell rang.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed, extremely irritated at the intrusion. Whoever was there could wait! I turned my mind back to Bella, determined to ignore it. Seconds later I heard the front door open and a familiar cheery voice calling for us from downstairs.

"Bells! Eddie!" Alice was here. There was no way we could get any time to ourselves now. I growled at her choice of names for us, still uncomfortable with Eddie, and Bella giggled. "The girls are all here Bella, just like you asked. You have two minutes to get downstairs or I'm sending Rosalie in after you." Immediately Bella pulled away from me, tugging her shirt back into place and scrambling of the bed. She pulled on some light blue jeans, whilst I shamlessly ogled her ass, and was out of the room in less than a minute.

Alice wasn't kidding about Rose either. One time when the two of them had come, we had ignore Alice's warnings. Five minutes later we'd had the covers ripped of the bed by my step-sister and been caught in a rather compromising position. We were wise enough not to try that again!

I heard the sounds of several women squealing and knew that Bella would be busy for a while. She rarely ever got to see my sister and Rosalie anymore, let alone the other three. The three Moosketeers, we had dubbed them: Emma, Sarah and Tiffany.

They had been Bella's lifelines when they'd all gone off to Dartmouth for university and I had been accepted to Harvard. Bella had assured me, despite my whining, that she would be OK without me so I had reluctantly gone alone. Unfortunately, it hadn't been possible for her to share a room with Alice or Rosalie, so she had been placed in a room with Emma instead. She had been the first friend Bella had made outside of her high school friends or my immediate family so I had been eternally grateful to Emma ever since for that.

Shortly after that meeting, Emma had introduced Bella to her sister Sarah and their friend Tiff. The four had quickly become inseparable and, whilst Alice, Rosalie and I were still there for Bella, they had become a big part of Bella's life whilst we couldn't be there. They made a great team and Bella loved to see them, so I encouraged her to invite them around as often as she could.

I hadn't known they we coming this time, however, which was odd because Bella always tells me everything. I was curious to see why they were here so, despite knowing that Bella would disapprove if she knew, I pulled on a pair of jeans of my own and snuck out onto the landing to listen to their conversation.

"I'm so glad you're here," I heard her say eagerly. "I need some advice." I was intrigued to say the least, and started to edge towards the stairs. Just as I got to the edge of the landing, where I could just see the side of Emma's head from my vantage point, they all started to move into the kitchen. Bella came into view briefly as she glanced up the stairs and I hurriedly melted into the shadows so she wouldn't see me. Then, she entered the kitchen herself and shut the door, dulling the sound emanating from within.

I realised pretty quickly that whatever she was talking to them about in their was important, so I hurried down the stairs and stood next to the closed, wooden door, pressing my ear against it. I knew that if anyone opened that door it would look extremely dodgy, but I had to find out what they were saying.

I strained to hear specific words through the hum of noise, but it was difficult. Then, one distinct phrase drifted faintly through the oak and I sank to the floor with my head in my hands.

"Jacob Black"

**AN: Give me love, or hate, and review. Please?**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: It's a bit scatty today, so I apologise. I know exactly where I wanted to go with this and I did it eventually, but it just wouldn't behave on paper. For that, if it seems odd, I apologise. I will try harder (two and a half hours this time by the way) next time! Enjoy…**

**PS. This is Tiff's turn for the limelight, sort of; Emma and Sarah are here but will get a proper mention later.**

RECAP: I strained to hear specific words through the hum of noise, but it was difficult. Then, one distinct phrase drifted faintly through the oak and I sank to the floor with my head in my hands.

"Jacob Black"

NPOV

I sniffed miserably and scrubbed my eyes furiously with my thumbs, trying desperately to stifle my tears. The packet of Cadbury's Dairy Milk **(AN: Sorry non- British people, but Cadbury's is legend!)** lay forgotten on the floor beside me as I curled up on the floor, sobbing. I couldn't understand why mother and daddy had gotten so angry about Jay. He was so lovely and perfect for me, and I was sure that he was the one. They just didn't understand.

I had been so furious with them both after they had sent him away that I had sulked in my room for hours, waiting for them to apologise. Finally, daddy came up and hugged me, telling me that he was sorry about getting angry. He told me that he and mother had talked out in the garden and they had agreed to consider their decision. However, he also said that, for the time being, I was to stay away from Jay.

That had cut me deep, deeper than I would ever let daddy know. A sixteen year old should never cry in front of people. That was just embarrassing. Alone though is a completely different story, and I had begun to vent my emotion the second my dad had shut the door of my bedroom.

Later that night, after I had heard my parents go to bed, I was still crying and clearly wasn't going to sleep any time soon, so I snuck downstairs and raided the cupboard. I had struck gold in the form of a purple-wrapped bar of my favourite chocolate which made me feel instantly better just looking at it. I had crawled under the large round table in one corner of the warm, homely room and it was there I remained through the rest of the night.

I jumped in shock, the idyllic silence of the house broken abruptly, as a multitude of voices started laughing and chatting just outside the room. It was immediately obvious that it was my mother's friends, so I didn't have to be scared of them, but I was concerned about being caught in the kitchen. I resolved to try to sneak out and back upstairs, since I didn't seem to have been reported missing yet, but unfortunately they started to pile into the room with me. I could see four pairs of legs pass the table, then the door slammed and I recognised my mother's legs as they came to rest directly in front of me, facing away. I was trapped.

I panicked, there was no way out. I clearly wasn't meant to be here, they had closed the door after all, and I wasn't sure what to do. I was, on the other hand, slightly intrigued as to what would be said. Maybe it would shed some light on why my parents had been acting so weird.

"So, Bella." I recognised the voice of my beloved aunt Alice, as she tentatively spoke into the once again silent room. "What's up?"

"Oh Alice!" my mother gushed, sounding more distressed than I had heard her in a long time. "You have to help me. I don't know what to do." I almost crawled out from under the table to go and hug her, but another voice sounded, shaking me from that insane plan.

"Calm down, babe." That was the soothing voice of my mother's friend Tiff, a lovely, kind hearted woman who I loved as one of my aunts. Her words washed over the group like a wave of peace and comfort, everyone shifting as they reacted to it. I let out a quiet breath myself and the knot in my shoulders loosened slightly. It was magical. "Tell us what happened, then we can help you." she reasoned.

"Nessie, she… she brought her boyfriend around today," she said hesitantly, and then stopped as if she had explained everything.

"Yes?" Aunt Rosalie spoke now, almost as if they were talking turns around the circle, like they were back in primary school.

"His name is Jay," she said solemnly, fearfully even. What the hell was wrong with him? It was really starting to annoy me. "Jay Black!" Instantly, the mood in the room changed and I could see five pairs of legs shifting anxiously, moving to whisper to one another, to confirm that they had heard correctly.

"Black?" I heard one; I think it might have been Tiff again, hissed at her nearest neighbour. "As in…" she trailed off, seemingly unable to continue. What could be so bad that the fear rolling off my mother and her best friends was palpable? I needed to know, so I kept listening inquisitively.

"Yes, as in Jacob," someone else responded, in the same hushed tone.

"Jacob Black." The words echoed around the small circle of friends as they all uttered it softly, as if they had choreographed the intonation. Jacob Black was Jay's father's name, right? Was this what all this drama was about? What had _he_ done?

A loud thud emanated from the closed door, as if something had been thrown at it, and everyone turned sharply to look except my mother. She sighed, and spoke up wearily.

"Ignore it, its probably just Nessie tossing books about again." Everyone, including me turned back to look at her. Well, I turned to look at her legs, clad in my favourite mum jeans, and smiled. It definitely wasn't me.

"I don't see the problem," Alice said pensively, summing up my thoughts exactly. So what?

"My daughter introduced her first boyfriend to us yesterday," was the calm response, voice only slightly strained. "That boy is the son of the man who broke my heart in high school!" She could no longer control her tone, and her voice cracked coarsely.

"Oh, I see your point," said Alice, and the group converged on my mother as she began to cry. I sat frozen to the stone floor, hand clenched beside my chocolate bar, as my mind whirled from the revelation. That was why everyone had hated Jay, not because he wasn't good enough boyfriend material.

I had heard a couple of times about the mysterious man X who had been horrible to mother in high school, but never had I heard any names mentioned. I had always envisioned an evil villain, upsetting her, and my daddy being the super-hero who saved her. I hadn't imagined a normal, friendly father figure like the one Jay had told me about so many times. I had so many things swirling around in my head, and I had no idea what to do.

EPOV

My head hit the door with a resounding thud, one that would be clearly heard on the other side, so I got up quickly and headed back upstairs so that I wouldn't be discovered on the other side of the door. Once safely in the confines of my bedroom I sat heavily on the edge of the bed to ponder my morning.

One thing I knew was that Bella clearly wanted to see Jacob Black again. She had told me as much as we had strolled arm in arm through the rose bushes yesterday evening. "We need to try, for Renesmee's sake," she had said. I also knew that she didn't feel comfortable talking about it in front of me. The little women's conference in the kitchen was evidence enough of that. I wasn't sure exactly how all of this tied together, but I did know that I would try my best to make her happy, no matter what she wanted.

I shuffled around the warzone that was our slightly chaotic bedroom, and pick up my mobile phone. It wasn't that I didn't trust the landline; it was just that I wanted to do this on my own. I then found the yellow pages hidden under a pile of clean washing; waiting to be put away, and looked up the number I wanted.

I dialled the number carefully, and then quickly pressed the cancel button before it began to ring. I wasn't strong enough to do this. I dialled again, but again chickened out and rang off. I have to be strong enough, for Bella, I told myself, and then dialled for the third time.

"Hello," a soft, pleasant male voice answered. "How can I help?"

"Is this Jacob Black?" I asked tentatively, not sure I really wanted the answer to be yes.

"It is..." came the cheerful response. "What can I do for you?"

**AN: Another evil cliff-hanger, I know. Sorry, but it's the only place that worked to stop. You have to admit, it makes it more fun this way. Review, love, hate, totally burn, whatever. Thanks.**

**PS. I will have more time over the next week or two to update, so you might not have to wait as long. That's providing I get enough reviews, of course!**

**Love,**

**Charlotte-xoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I have no excuses now, finally! My big exam happened today, went OK and I'm pretty much free for the next four weeks. Woo! It's really soon since the last update, impressive huh? I have a preview for the next chapter, if you guys want it. See the second AN for how to get it! Enjoy… hope you like it!!!**

RECAP: "Is this Jacob Black?" I asked tentatively, not sure I really wanted the answer to be yes.

"It is..." came the cheerful response. "What can I do for you?"

BPOV

"Don't worry baby, you look wonderful," Edward reassured me, as I smoothed down my dress for the twentieth time in as many minutes. The tight, black fabric clung to me like a glove, making me look, despite what Edward thought, like a slut. I knew that I had to dress smartly for our evening, but that didn't mean I had to show more flesh than was tasteful. The LBD, combined with skyscraper black heels, was not my idea of fun. Edward, on the other hand, thought it was perfect.

"Are you sure?" I asked. I knew I was being pedantic but I wanted so much for this night to be perfect. "I know we want to make a good impression, but isn't the dress a bit much?"

"No Bella, it's perfect. There's no need to be nervous." Edward hugged me tight and I kissed his neck softly. I knew that it would never be a conscious thought on Edward's part, but I couldn't help wonder if part of him just wanted to try and make our host jealous in some way. Immediately having thought this, I shook my head furiously; that was ridiculous. As if Edward could read my mind he reassured me further. "It's not that short either, just a beautiful dress for my beautiful wife."

Right, that was sorted then. I would wear the damn dress, and heels, no matter what misgivings I had about the ensemble. He could just deal with it. Who was he to make me feel insecure about myself anyway; he's just a man, one I haven't seen for nearly twenty years. God… get a grip!

"Are you ready to go, love?" I jumped and blushed violently as I tried, extremely unsuccessfully to pretend that I had been paying attention.

"Y-yes!" I stammered, willing the blood pooling in my cheeks to calm the hell down. This was going to be a long night. I took Edward's hand, which was outstretched towards me, and we walked out to the hall where Nessie was waiting. She looked so beautiful in her baby blue cocktail dress that I nearly cried. I know that it's pathetic but she just looked so grown up and gorgeous. She is going to make someone a very happy woman one day, I just dread to think what Edward would say if it ended up being Jay.

Finally, we all made it down the drive in the end, only experiencing a minor set back when Nessie tried to demonstrate the complete lack of balance she inherited from yours truly, and we piled into Edward's Volvo. Despite Nessie complaining several times that it was not a cool enough car to be owned by the family, Edward had hung onto his baby, claiming that part of him would die if we sold her. So, all these years later we sat in his car anxiously, speeding towards the person who caused my entire life to play out the way it had.

A small part of me wondered how much of an impact on my future he might have, but I suppressed it haphazardly. We would deal with whatever was to come, as a family, when it happened. Speculating would not help anyone.

EPOV

Eventually, after what seemed like hours we arrive at Chateaux Nero. Black Manor; nice! I knocked politely at the door of the rambling country manor, deep in the forests around La Push, and finally the door opened to reveal a man that I had never expected to set eyes on again.

He quite literally hadn't aged a day. Of course, his features had changed, matured and developed, but somehow he still looked exactly the same. When he smiled warmly, I could see that even his friendly, overly cocky grin was the same. I had to mentally kick myself to remind myself that, no matter how friendly he looked, he was the same man who had ripped Bella's heart to shreds in high school.

"Hey Eddie," he said jovially, even his voice sounding familiar, like it had on the phone. "Long time no see." I tensed at his use of the long since dispensed nickname, but smiled tightly nonetheless. Inclining his head to Renesmee, he silently let her past him inside. I had forgotten that she had been he before; she had probably gone to find Jay.

I pained me slightly that this man should no my baby girl well enough that she could just waltz in uninvited, but I brushed it off. I centred myself by remembering what Bella had told me three nights ago, in our garden, and had repeated for me earlier this evening as we were getting ready to go out. "Just be yourself and give him a chance." That was what I would do. Give the guy a chance to be different.

Then I watched as he turned his attention to Bella, waiting for his reaction. There was one tiny thing I hadn't told Jacob, or Bella, and Jay didn't seem to have mentioned it either. Must have just slipped his mind, or maybe he had actually used his brain and keep his mouth shut. I was just a little nervous now to see what Jacob would do.

"This must be Edward's lovely wife. Its nice to meet you, my name is J…" he choked on his words and his eyes shot wide open. He had worked it out then, smart man. "Bella?" he seemed to be having trouble talking, and his cheeks were going red.

"Hi Jake." Bella waved minutely, seeming confused over his reaction, without moving from my side, and then her expression changed to one of concern. "Are you OK, Jake?"

"Yeah," he gasped, now bend over with his hands on his knees, coughed wracking his huge shoulders. I guess all those steroids in high school paid off, huh. "Just surprised is all."

"Edward!" Bella's voice rose as she turned to me, anger flashing in her eyes. "What did you do?" I was busted, damn! I knew I couldn't lie to Bella, not without hurting myself and her, so I replied honestly.

"I may have, um, forgotten to tell him who you were. I wanted it to be a surprise, I promise." I hung my head contritely, secretly slightly glad that Jacob wasn't making a brilliant impression, but determined to try to be nice. "I'm very sorry Jacob, my mistake." There, that will work. I definitely sounded convincing, even if I still can't stand him.

"It's fine," he assured me, sounding a lot more genuinely forgiving than I would have been able to achieve, considering the situation. He really must be a better actor than I gave him credit for; there's no way he could actually mean what he said. "Come in." He straightened up and motioned for us to enter. We made our way inside slowly, admiring the impressive chandelier and marble staircase on the way to the sumptuous sitting room. Jacob had done well for himself. Very well, in fact!

JacobPOV

"So, Bella, what have you and Edward been up to since high school?" I asked, trying to make her feel as comfortable as possible. She was sitting beside me on the couch, and she was smiling, but she still looked quite tense, and with good reason. She had her small hands clenched in her lap, and she was biting her lip. God, she was still just as beautiful as ever. No… shut up, brain!

"Well, I studied English at university with Rosalie Hale, Edward's sister-in-law. You remember her, don't you?" She looked up to confirm that I did indeed know Rosalie. I nodded; I remembered Emmett Cullen's gorgeous girlfriend, of course I did. She continued, "Then, after that, I became an English teacher at a school in New York. About the same time, Edward finished his degree in Biology and he joined me in New York as a biology teacher in a school near mine."

"Interesting." I mused. "So, when did you and Edward tie the knot?" This was a question I was really curious about.

"About eighteen years ago now, I think. It's been such a perfect life." She sighed, and a beatific, blissful smile spread across her face. "What about you? How have you been?"

"I had to look after my dad after high school so I never got to go away for university. I studied sport science at Forks Community College and I work as a football coach back at Forks High now. That's about it really…" I trailed off, unsure about what else to say.

"Um, what about you're… wife?" She seemed hesitant to say it but I knew I would have to say it sooner or later.

"I married Jess from our class; you remember Jessica Stanley, right?" I reiterated her earlier question, and she nodded as I did. Of course she would remember, she always was bright, and Jess had been a big part of both our lives. "Well, we found out a year or so after high school that Jessica was pregnant and I did my dad proud by making an honest girl of her. After Jacob Jnr was born, we… sort of, drifted apart. We got a divorce about ten years ago and that was when we, well me and Jay, moved to Black Manor."

It felt good to talk about this, and Bella seemed like she really cared, so I felt compelled to tell her everything. She had acted tonight as if the last six months of high school had never even happened, and for that I was grateful. I had regretted my actions every single day since it had happened, every time I had looked at Jess during our marriage. That had been one reason we had split up in the end, the guilt over my actions as a juvenile teenager.

"That's nice," she said kindly, being a wonderful, gentle-souled person I've ever met, despite it being one of the most rubbish life stories ever.

"Thanks, but not really. I have got Jay though, that's the most important thing. I don't know what I'd do without him." I smiled myself now, remember the wonderful years I had spent bringing up my son alone. It had been tough, but totally worth it. He truthfully made my life worth living.

"That's great," she enthused, her eyes sparkling the way I always remembered they did, and she patted my arm amicably. "I feel the exact same way about Nessie."

"Yeah, she's one special, beautiful girl." I shuffled a little closer to her on the leather couch and put my hand over hers on her knee. It felt so nice to have someone who knew me enough for me to be honest that I didn't think about what I was doing.

Suddenly, Bella was pulled away from me and Edward was in my face, anger blazing. Shit!

"Get your hands off her you bastard!" he fumed, completely misreading the situation.

"No…" Bella and I both protested simultaneously, as he pulled her towards the hall and the front door. "It wasn't… I didn't…" Somehow I knew that, no matter what I said, he wouldn't understand. I had caused too much enmity and hostility between us for that. I simply stood there silently, watching the best friend I would ever have walk out of the door.

**AN: Hope you liked it. Review, review, review. I live off them.**

**Yeah, so I have a preview for the next chapter, which is going to be a-may-zing. And shocking. So… um, I don't have a word I want you to write or any weird questions… so; if you want the preview just let me know. So, yeah! Love you guys…**

**Charlotte-xoxo**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Okay, so this chapter is probably going to make you lovely people all hate me, but I worked really hard on this so let me know what you think. Also, I took my inspiration for this chapter from an oldish film that you may or may not have seen, so if you know what film it is let me know and I'll post your name next time. Enjoy… or not…**

RECAP: "No…" Bella and I both protested simultaneously, as he pulled her towards the hall and the front door. "It wasn't… I didn't…" Somehow I knew that, no matter what I said, he wouldn't understand. I had caused too much enmity and hostility between us for that. I simply stood there silently, watching the best friend I would ever have walk out of the door.

BPOV

"I told you," I screamed, gripping the door handle viciously as I stormed inside. The row between Edward and I had been raging for almost fifteen minutes whilst we had been driving back to Forks from La Push. "Nothing happened!" I had been trying desperately to explain to Edward that what he had seen had been a misunderstanding, but he just wouldn't listen to reason. He had seen Jacob with his hand on my knee and that had been it, no explanation could persuade Edward that it had been anything other than an innocent gesture of friendship.

"It didn't look like nothing!" he retorted, his eyes flashing with anger, and his normally pale cheeks began to tinge slightly pink. "God, Bella. He had his filthy paw on your knee." He choked on the last word, and pain flashed across his beautiful face.

"Edward, please," I begged, praying for him to see reason. "I promise you that nothing happened. He was upset, I patted his knee, and then he reciprocated the gesture." His face was hard and his hands were clenched in fists tersely throughout my speech, and he shook his head disbelievingly. "Neither of us did anything inappropriate. I love you Edward; I wouldn't do that to you." His expression softened slightly, and my heart leapt minutely. Was I getting through to him?

"I don't blame you, Bella!" he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "It wasn't your fault; it's never your fault. It's that dog, Jacob." I didn't know what to say, so I just shook my head miserably. Edward still didn't get it; Jacob had changed, I knew he had.

"Don't blame Jake either Edward, he really had changed," I told Edward earnestly. He seemed to have calmed down slightly, and I intended to use this to my advantage.

"You might believe him, but I certainly do not," he grunted, his eyes still shooting daggers at the wall behind my head. "He is never going anywhere near you again. I promise you," he reiterated my previous words of assurance. I knew that no matter how much Jacob had changed, Edward's happiness was the most important thing, so I nodded sadly.

"Fine," I agreed. "We have to let Nessie see Jay though." I would conform to Edward's request if that was what he wanted, but Nessie was a different story. I'd be damned if I was going to ruin my daughter's happiness, just for Edward's stupid grudge from high school.

"No," he snapped, "Not a chance." Nessie flew out of the living room, where she had clearly been listening to our conversation, at that and started screaming at her father.

"Dad, you have no idea what you are doing." she shrieked, her face starting to go bright red like mine had. There was no way that either of us could disown her, what with Edward's temper and my tendency to blush violently. "You can't do that, I had a date with Jay tomorrow morning." She was pleading now, and my heart went out to her. She shouldn't have to miss her date because of me or Jacob, or Edward for that matter.

"Oh yes I can young lady! You will not see Jay tomorrow, or any other day," he fumed. "No arguments. This conversation is over," he finished abruptly, and then stalked out of the room and up the stairs to our room.

"I hate you," Nessie screamed after him, the air around us charged with anger and pain, and then she too stormed off upstairs. I heard a loud sob, followed by her door slamming, and then the house was silent. Too silent, in fact; it was unnerving, so I switched on the news just so it wasn't quite so quiet.

I slumped dejectedly into a comfortable chair, and placed my face in my hands. The night had not gone at all to plan and it was all my fault. Nessie was upset, Edward was upset and I was upset. I had ruined everything. It was with that realisation that I came up to bed, at some unearthly hour of the night, and fell asleep with an overwhelming sense of guilt hanging over me. It was made worse by the fact that I could hear by his uneven breathing that Edward was not yet asleep, but he made no move to talk to me or even hug me. It was the first night in nearly twenty years that I had fallen asleep without Edward's strong, protective arms wrapped around me, and it felt wrong, like a bad omen.

EPOV

I awoke with a start, and I sat up in bed, looking over at my clock to see that it was nearly six in the morning. My skin was crawling and I shivered, remembering my nightmare.

I had been still at high school and Bella had been missing. I had gone to find her, only to be greeted by a horrific image of her and Jacob together, in the shadows of our old football stadium, pressed up against the wall. Although I knew that in reality it had been Jessica Stanley that I had seen that day, all I could see is Bella's beautiful face as she kissed Jacob Black.

I shook my head, trying to dislodge both the memory and the nightmare, and looked around me to see what had woken me up. I had remember hearing a dull thud in the background of my vivid dream, which had thankfully brought me back to reality, not a moment too soon.

The house was silent, and I almost believed that I had imagined the noise, and then I heard another dull thud and a scraping sound. I turned to Bella, who was sleeping across the other side of the bed, hugging a pillow tightly to her chest. I felt a pang of pain and guilt for ignoring her last night, having never failed held her as she slept before, but pushed it aside as I shook her shoulder to wake her up.

"Bells, honey, I need you to wake up," I whispered, trying to keep quiet. I didn't know what was happening, but if it was a burglar I needed to keep her quiet, so we didn't attract unwanted attention. "Bella, wake up, please." She shifted in her sleep, her breathing giving away her return to conscious and I gently placed my hand over her mouth to stop her making any noise. She panicked, understandably, but then I caught her gaze with mine and lifted my free hand to press my finger to my lips. She nodded, and I released her mouth.

"What's wrong?" she asked, whispering as I had done.

"I don't know, but I heard something." I explained, and we both slowly went to slide out of bed. "You stay here and I'll check." She nodded silently again, and I crept down the stairs into the hall. After checking all of the rooms, and not finding anything, I was about to come back upstairs when I heard a almighty thud followed by a piercing scream that echoed through the night around me.

No! Renesmee, I thought desperately, and started running up the stairs two at a time to get to my daughter's room. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion, crashing down around me, as I saw Bella streak across the landing in her tiny nightgown, and slam open the door to Nessie's room. A powerful gust of wind blasted through the house past her as she hurried in, so I knew her window was open.

"No!" Bella screamed and the agony in her voice was tangible as I too trust the door aside and stepped in. Bella was standing, staring out into the night, framed by the open window; the curtains billowing ethereally around her as time stopped altogether. Then it all came snapping back like an elastic band and I was sprinting back down the stairs and out of the door into the garden.

"Nessie," Bella begged, as she ran just behind me, sobbing frantically. We rounded the corner, coming into view of part of the exterior wall where Renesmee's window was and when my brain registered what I was seeing I dropped to my knees on the wet earth. My baby girl was lying on her back on the grass beside the house, two stories directly below her window, having clearly fallen from the ledge which was snapped and had been ripped from the wall in several places. A thin branch from the old oak tree that stood just a few feet from the window also lay beside her still form. Her arm was twisted at an entirely unnatural angle under her body, and I could see in the faint light from the streetlamp across the street that her eyes were closed.

"No," Bella screamed again, throwing herself down on the ground beside Renesmee. "Edward, do something." I barely registered her calling my name; I was still in shock, so she called again. "Edward, please, you have to do something."

I snapped out of my trance and hurried inside to find the cordless phone from the kitchen. Seizing it, I ran back outside, and stood beside Bella as she knelt beside my little girl. Fear pulsed through my body and the adrenaline rush helped my hand to stay steady enough to punch in the numbers.

9-1-1, the phone rang and rang as I gripped it, praying for someone to pick up. Finally, I got patched through to the emergency services.

"Yes, I need an ambulance, now. My daughter fell out of her window, she's not moving. You have to help!" I waited anxiously as the call was passed on to the ambulance crew. I repeated my plea, and recited my address automatically on request, and then they reassured me that someone would be on their way immediately. I assured them that I wouldn't touch her before they got there in case she had a… neck or head injury, and then hung up. I could barely think the words as I knelt beside Bella and Renesmee to wait, Bella's sobs and screams filling the air around us. The blackness swirled and seemed to bear down on me and my mind raced as I tried not to think about what might happen to my baby girl.

This was all my fault, I knew it, and I would never forgive myself.

**AN: Please don't kill me, or send me death threats. First, I'm not going to kill her. Second, I'm NOT going to kill her. Thirdly, if you know the film let me know. Review, review, review. Thanks.**

**Charlotte-xoxo**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: I'm going to keep this short, excuses later. Enjoy…**

RECAP: This was all my fault, I knew it, and I would never forgive myself.

BPOV

This can't be happening. This cannot be happening. This is impossible. I chanted every variation of this phrase I could think of under my breath as I tried to concentrate on the paramedic's words.

"There's nothing else you can do, sir. Please sit down," he was saying, holding his hands out towards me as if in desperation. I realised after a few moments that he was talking, not to me but, to Edward who was pacing the length of the tiny ambulance continuously. I reached out to him and snagged his arm as he looped back round to begin his five paces from my end to the door, then pulled him down so he was sitting beside me on the bed.

"Stop it, Edward, please?" I asked, cupping his cheek in my free hand, the one that wasn't gripping his hand to stop him getting up, and looking deep into his pain-filled, emerald eyes. "You beating yourself up inside is not helping, this is my fault."

I could tell from the wounded look that flashed across his face that I had hit the nail on the head. I hadn't been sure, but he always tried to blame himself for everyone else's mistakes. None of this would have happened if it hadn't been for me, if I hadn't insisted on talking to Jacob that night. If I had thought logically, and rationally, about what I was doing, and hadn't let Jake put his hand on my knee, then Renesmee would be okay right now. All I had taken was one stupid move on my part to put my baby girl into a coma. The only thing left for me to do now is pray that she makes it though so I can tell her how sorry I am.

At that moment, my thoughts hit me like a lightening bolt and I dropped Edward's hand, leaping to my feet as he had nearly ten minutes ago.

"She _is_ going to be okay, isn't she?" I blurted, and then burst into tears again. The paramedic looked shocked by my outburst, and I realised that it had probably seemed quite weird considering he hadn't heard my little conversation in my head, then he simply smiled tightly and then went back to checking the monitors. I took that as a bad sign and buried my face into Edward's warm, slightly damp chest. He didn't seem to mind and wrapped his arms comfortingly around me.

"Bella, this isn't your fault. It's mine; this whole thing is my fault." I shook my head vehemently and tried to argue with him, but he pressed his finger gently to my lips, effectively silencing my protests. He looked into my eyes, looking deep into my soul and the fear and pain reflected in his own eyes was more than I could bear. I looked away, and took a shaky breath. It was clear now, from the emotion that had just passed silently between us in the way only soul mates can, that he was blaming himself the same was that I was. It had to stop, for Renesmee's sake; she needed both her parents to be there for her if… no, when she woke up.

"Let's talk about this later," I whispered, and he nodded, smiling minutely as he did so. I returned the half smile, and then we both went back to watching Renesmee's unnaturally still form, praying for some sign of movement.

Another ten minutes passed before we finally arrived at the hospital in Seattle, and then we were surrounded by swarms of nurses and emergency staff who lifted Renesmee off the stretcher and onto a large hospital gurney, taking extra care to support her neck. The paramedic reckoned that there would be some damage to the spinal cord, but he wasn't going to take any chances until he was sure. Once she was safely strapped on, we hurried down a long hall towards the bed that had been found for her. I stumbled blindly along behind the group, only standing because Edward was supporting my underarm, not really with it.

I remembered being deposited in a chair, and a mass of people moving to and fro across my retina, but I couldn't seem to make sense if the jumble of sight and sound. I could hear Edward murmuring soothing words into my ear, but I just couldn't seem to make out what he was saying. Eventually the flashing lights and blurry images became too much for my shaky mind to handle and I squeezed my eyes shut. Edward pulled me into his lap once again, and I drifted into a fitful sleep.

_The ice cold wind was gusting around my face, ruffling my black dress as I stood on the very edge of the grave. Surrounding me was a crowd of faceless strangers, and Edward was nowhere to be found. Suddenly I noticed that there was a little girl, dressed all in white, standing to my left. She looked straight into my eyes and opened her mouth to speak._

"_This is your fault," she whispered, her voice echoing and ethereal. "You could have saved me, Mommy. You should have saved me." Then she disappeared, dissolving into nothing, and in her place was a dark, wooden coffin. Then, a tap on my shoulder caused me to look to my right. There stood my darling Edward, also dressed entirely in white, his favourite white button-down shirt unbuttoned on his torso. His skin was deathly white, and his eyes were cold, black and expressionless. I knew what was happening, and it was heartbreaking, but I couldn't run away. My feet were fixed to the ground by invisible strings and all I could do is watch as Edward's body began to fade before my eyes._

"_I couldn't cope, Bella," he murmured softly. "You let her die and I followed. Now you are alone, just like you deserve. You were not good enough for either of us." Then he disappeared just like Renesmee had and I screamed for him into the storm that was brewing around me. Then, a strong gust of wind lifted me cleanly off my feet and I was thrown up into the air._

_The scene changed and I was falling, freewheeling through the air, Renesmee's bedroom window racing away from me into the dark. I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the fall that I knew was coming, but nothing happened._

_I opened my eyes and sighed in relief, I was sitting in an orange plastic chair in a hospital bedroom. Looking around, I couldn't see anyone else in the room and the hospital bed was empty with the sheets folded neatly down as if no one had used it in a while._

"_Go home Bella," I heard Carlisle's voice and turned to see him standing in the doorway, a sad expression on his face. "They're not coming back."_

"_No," I cried, knowing deep in my heart that Edward and Renesmee were gone, and I was truly alone. They had left me, they had taken a path I couldn't follow, and I was alone. I screamed out again. "No."_

"Bella," Edward's voice hit me like an iceberg hitting the hull of a ship, and I gasped in shock. He seemed so real, but he couldn't be; he was dead, they were both dead and it was my fault. "Wake up, love."

**AN: Yes, I know it's short but I wanted to get this out before I went on holiday for the weekend. I can write and reply to reviews whilst im away, but I can't upload so I wanted you to have this now to make up for making you wait until Monday for the next part. Review, I love you all for that. They truly make my day a whole lot better when I get one in my inbox. Thanks.**

**Charlotte-xoxo**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Sorry it's been so long, I was caught in Europe by the Icelandic volcano eruption.**

**One thing to know first for this chapter is that this was planned from the very beginning, this scene. I wasn't sure where to put it, but it seemed to fit here. Tissues ready, and I hope I don't offend anyone. Thanks... enjoy**.

**PS. Sarah has a small spotlight in this chapter, so sarahbeara this is for you. Very small, I know, but I will include more of my special guests from next chapter onwards. Sorry, I kind of forgot about you guys for a bit. Apologies.**

**WARNING: Mature emotional topics in this chapter. Not for the easily upset. Sorry.**

RECAP: "Bella," Edward's voice hit me like an iceberg hitting the hull of a ship, and I gasped in shock. He seemed so real, but he couldn't be; he was dead, they were both dead and it was my fault. "Wake up, love."

EPOV

I was shaking Bella as she lay slumped across my chest, whimpering like she in pain, and she was gripping my crumpled shirt like it was her only tie to the earth. It was almost as if she thought that she would float away if she let go, and I was anxious to wake her up from her distressing nightmare. Considering the circumstances, I would probably be having the same problem if I was asleep, but it was still upsetting for me to see her beautiful face screwed up in pain.

"Edward, no," I heard her man and I wrapped my arms around her even tighter as her breathing began to become more erratic. She was definitely awake now, that much was obvious from her movements and breathing pattern, but she still had her eyes squeezed shut. It was like she was afraid to open them, afraid of what she would see, so I started to sooth her with my voice like I had all those years ago when... no, don't go there, Edward. Focus on Bella.

"Baby," I whispered in her ear, conscious that other people were around. "Please open your eyes. I'm here, your safe."

"I can't," she replied, so quietly I almost couldn't hear her. "You'll be gone if I do. You'll be gone; I can't. I can't." She began to repeat the phrase over and over under her breath, and clutched my shirt tighter. Her knuckes were starting to turn white from the pressure, so I tried to loose them a bit. She shook her head furiously, adamantly, and I stopped immediately.

"What are you talking about, Bella?" I asked, confused by her words. There was no reason she could possibly think of why I would leave her, it was an absolute impossibility. She had always been doubtful of her hold on me, however strong and unbreakable I assured her it was. I would have to remind her again. "Bella, I will never leave you. I'm here and I always will be. I love you, so much."

"So real," she breathed, and I frowned. What? "But he's gone, he can't be here."

"I am here, Bella," I told her firmly, beginning to understand what was happening. It was exactly like the last time this had happened, only last she hadn't been so lucky. It had nearly killed Bella, which is why Nessie had to live. She just had to.

I felt a tear trickle down my cheek and onto the top of Bella's head. I kissed the spot and Bella moaned and then sighed loudly. She genuinely didn't believe I was here.

"So real," she enthused, and I shook my head clear of the thoughts I had kept at bay for often seventeen years. I could still see her, broken and dying, and it still ripped my heart in two every time. I had my beloved wife to take care of now, just like she had done all those years ago, and I had to help her to see me.

"I am here, Bella, and I'll prove it," I vowed, and bent down to press my lips firmly to hers. She reciprocated almost instantly, and wrapped her free arm around my neck, pulling me closer. I groaned, and poured my passion and love for her into the kiss. Her eyelids fluttered, and opened slowly. I pulled away, and sat gazing into her stunningly gorgeous brown eyes as she blinked once, then again.

"Are you really here?" she asked, biting her bottom lip in distress.

"Yes, love," I promised, and kissed her lightly on the end of her nose, before pulling her gently into a more comfortable position as she was half lying, half sitting in my lap.

"Oh, Edward," she moaned, burying her face in my shirt. "I was so scared, you we both... just like last time... I can't cope with that... I won't be able to." The words, and thoughts, came out in a flood, jumbled and tumbling from her mouth.

"It won't be like last time," I soothed, rubbing her back reassuringly. "Renesmee is stronger than Carlie ever could have been, she'll pull through." Bella gasped as I subconsciously spoke the name we had both been trying desperately to avoid, and her eyes filled with tears.

My mind was suddenly spinning wildly, spirally out of control and the images I had compressed for half my life began to flash past my mind's eye.

_A beautiful, pale, broken baby lying in a glass hospital machine, hooked up to countless device and tubes._

_Bella curled into a chair beside the monitor, staring up at me with hollow, unseeing eyes as I sat in absolute silence._

_My father hovering over me as I lay in a hospital bed, internally screaming for my Bella, and my daughter, but paralyzed by grief and unable to say anything._

_Bella sitting by my bedside, sobbing as she explained to my still, lifeless form, my eyes wide, expressionless and glassy, that Carlie was gone._

_I had snapped out of my week long paralysis then, screaming and throwing things in my unbearable had felt like the world was crashing and burning around me, but Bella had held me tightly, soothing me and helping me to break the surface of my depression. She had been my guiding light in a world of bleak, black nothingness, and I would never be able to repay her._

_Two days later Bella descended into the depths of depression, and it had taken me four months to break the shell and free her from her pain. I took a leave of absence from university to take care of her, despite her feeble excuses that she'd be fine. She'd had the most horrific nightmares, coming almost nightly; waking up in the middle of the night screaming and writhing in my arms. She had been convinced, presumably from what she had seen in her dreams and the living nightmare that was her life, that I had died with Carlie and that I was a figment of her psyche designed to torture her to her own grave._

_Bringing her out of her depression and lifelessness had taken everything I had, along with every single one our friends and family._

_Emma, Alice, Rosalie and Tiffany had all taken turns helping me with the housework and Bella maintenance, they had saved me from drowning in ironing since Bella wasn't up to doing any of it. However, the real lifeline in this situation, however, was Sarah._

_Sarah, being the loving friend she was, took time out from her psychology and therapy course at university to come and spend every spare moment she had with Bella. At first it had no effect, and I began to lose hope, but eventually Sarah somehow managed to pull Bella back from the edge and she started to visibly heal. I owed Sarah my whole life and reason for being, along with Bella's sanity. It was a debt that could never be repaid.  
_

_Every time I would look in on one of their sessions and see a smile, however small or weak, on Bella's face, it would fill me with a faint hope that she would be okay._

_Every time I saw her get out of bed in her room to see Emma, or one of the others, to the door, made me smile to myself._

_During that time I had moved out of our room, and I had been sleeping in the tiny room with the cot and rocking chair, ready for the newborn who would never move into it. It reminded me, every single day of every single month, of our beautiful baby girl. Carlie, the baby who had been stillborn a month prematurely, and still haunted my dreams after all those years. That room was still frozen in time, behind a locked door in our house. No one had been inside since I had locked it for the last time just over fifteen years ago.  
_

"_I love you, Edward," Bella had said to me, finding me sitting with my head in my hands at the kitchen table one morning, exactly four months after our lives had been torn to shreds. "I'm sorry."_

_I had flown to her and wrapped her into my arms, vowing my undying love for her and assuring her that I didn't blame her for anything. I could never blame her, it was just absurd t think that the death of our baby girl could be her fault. It had been unavoidable and no one could be held responsible._

_I told her this and then we cried into each others arms for several hours. We then poured out our souls to each other before curling up together on our bed for the first time in what seemed to me like forever._

_Two months later Bella found out she was pregnant with Nessie and, although we never forgot Carlie, we never spoke of those four months again..._

...until now.

"It'll be okay, Bells," I promised, and from the look on her face I could tell she had just been in the same memories as I had. I had told myself then that I would have given anything to know what had been going through Bella's head then, but now wasn't the time to ask. It could wait.

"I know," Bella said simply, gazing up at me with such trust and love in her eyes. "As long as we are together." She said it fairly confidently, but there was still a hint of a question in her eyes.

"Forever," I promised, kissing her head again. I closed my eyes and prayed with all my strength for Nessie to be alright, and I felt hopeful for the first time in twenty-four hours.

"Sleep, love," Bella whispered to me, and I relaxed into her, held safe by my angel and soul mate whilst I slept, knowing that she was watching over me and our daughter for as long as it took.

"I love you, Bella," I mumbled, to far gone to concentrate.

"I love you too, Edward."

**AN: OK, so I cried whilst writing again. I hope at least one of you did too, that was the intention (sort of). Review, and tell me what you think. However, eight or nine reviews for three to four hundred reads is a bit discouraging, and I was thinking that I might cut the story down a bit if people aren't enjoying it. Lemme know, either way. Thank you for your support, everyone who has reviewed. I love you all to bits.**

**Charlotte-xoxo**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Sorry it was so long since I uploaded this story. I had a tad of writer's block with EPOV and BPOV so I decided to do something different for once. It's short, I know, but I hope you like it.**

RECAP: "I love you, Bella," I mumbled, to far gone to concentrate.

"I love you too, Edward."

JPOV

"Dad, wake up!" I heard the less than dulcet tones of my son's voice in my ear, and I groaned in frustration. I had been dreaming of Bella, and how great it had been to see her again and I was not in the mood for being woken up at some ungodly hour of the morning. The naked light bulb above my head snapped on and the glare momentarily blinded me before I pressed my eyes shut.

"What time is it Jay?" I mumbled, rolling over so that my face was pressed firmly into sheets. The irritation was evident in my voice and I hoped, like usual that he would get the hint and leave me alone. Unfortunately, today didn't seem to be one of those days, and I heard his footsteps coming around the bed to the other side.

"Nearly six, but you need to help me. Please?" He sounded genuinely upset and concerned, something rare for a teenage boy, so I opened one eye a crack.

"What's up, kiddo?" I asked, and he shoved my shoulder, to wake me further.

"It's Nessie! She was supposed to meet me this morning for breakfast, you know. She didn't show, and her parents aren't answering the door or phone. I'm worried."

"I'm sure she's fine, son," I assured him, though it did seem a bit odd. Jay and his girlfriend had been practically inseparable for almost two months now; she'd never skipped out on a date before. However, girls will be girls, and I'm sure there was an explanation for her not showing up.

"No, she wouldn't bail Dad," he continued, anger and frustration creeping into his normally calm voice. He never got stressed about things normally, and this was unheard behaviour for him. "I know she wouldn't. Can you call and see if you can get through?" Despite my annoyance, I wanted to give him peace of mind so I nodded into my pillow and sat up in bed.

"Sure thing, son. Just let me get up first, okay?" I asked, and he smiled, and then hurried out of the room to leave me to get up. He was really incensed by this, I thought to myself, as I got up and pulled on my jeans. It was strange; alarming even.

Ten minutes later, I emerged from my room and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Inside, I found Jay sitting tersely at the table nursing a glass of orange juice, looking dejected and forlorn. I picked up the landline phone off its cradle on the granite countertop and dialled the number that was written on the slip of paper Jay had left me beside it. He had underlined it furiously in black Sharpie and it made it even more clear to me, in that moment, just how strongly he cared for Nessie Cullen.

I waited for a moment for the phone to connect then pressed it to my ear as it began to ring, only to be quickly disappointed. After twelve slow, monotonous rings, it cut to the answer machine and that irritating woman's voice began to talk to me in a perky, patronising voice.

"The person you have tried to call is unavailable at the moment…" Wow. It really takes you speaking for me to figure that out for myself. "Please leave your message after the beep… BEEP!" I was about to slam the phone down in frustration, having hated answer machines all of my life, but Jay's voice stopped me.

"Please? Just ask." I was powerless to resist the helplessness of my son's pleading, so I decided to leave a message instead.

"Hi Bella… Edward. We, Jay and I, were wondering if everything was alright. Jay tried to get a-hold off Renesmee earlier and you were out. Call me b…" I was in mid flow when I heard a whistle and click on the other end of the line, and then an unfamiliar female voice spoke and cut me off.

"Hello, who is this?" she asked, and I quickly told her my name and repeated my earlier message that I had been speaking into the answer machine. "Now is really not a good time, Jacob. Bella and Edward are at the hospital right now, and will be for some time." My breathing faltered and I gasped loud, causing Jay to look up from the patterns he was tracing listlessly in the countertop with his finger.

"What happened?" I asked urgently. Who was in the hospital? Was it Bella? Edward? The questions raced through my head as I tried to concentrate. Jay's head snapped up and he was suddenly listening very carefully to my end of the conversation.

"It's…" The woman began to sniffle and sob down the phone, and my heart plummeted to the floor. "It's little Nessie. She had an accident and they rushed her to emergency care early this morning." I couldn't believe what I was hearing and all the blood drained from Jay's face as I spoke my next words, my hands trembling.

"She was supposed to meet Jay this morning." He leapt up and ripped the phone from my hands, screaming down it at the poor woman on the other end.

"What happened? What happened? Tell me she's okay!" he yelled, tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes. You know all these stories that say that boys can't or don't cry? Yeah, well they're damn wrong. It tore my heart to shreds, fractured as it already was, to see him like this. He was silent for a moment, then his eyes widened and the tears ruptured and flowed steadily down his cheeks. "Nessie!"

He mumbled a quiet and garbled thank you to whoever had been on the end of the phone, most likely one of Bella's friends, and dropped the phone down onto the wooden dining table. Then he headed for the door, grabbing the basket with the keys in it as he went. The contents of the basket went flying and he dropped to his knees, scrambling around to find one of the sets. I presumed that he wanted his car keys so I bent down to help him look.

A second later, I spotted them a metre or so to my left, and I scooped them up and opened the front door. Jay noticed me after a moment and sprang to his feet, wrenching the keys from my grip and launching himself into the driver's seat of his new black Mini. It had been a birthday present from me last year, and it had barely been used. He preferred to walk around Forks, it being so small, but now that wasn't an option. I pulled the front door to the manor shut, not worrying to lock it since the whole building was gated anyway, and clambered into the passenger seat of the car. Just before I shut the passenger door, I press the blipper to open the automated gates and then Jay was flooring the gas pedal and racing down the drive towards the road.

We completed the ten minute journey to the hospital in less than five, and Jay didn't even take the time to put on the hand brake before he was out of the car, running up the steps to the hospital's main entrance. I slid over into his seat, shut the door, and drove the vehicle into the parking lot to wait for Jay. I knew that I wouldn't be wanted, or needed inside and Jay needed to do this himself.

JayPOV

I shoved open the double doors that lead into the main reception area. I was vaguely aware that the hospital was crowded and noisy, with people pushing past me in all direction, but my brain was blocking it all out and it was simply a dim buzzing drone to me. I was running, all my focus and energy centred on finding my girl as fast as was humanly possible. I headed straight for the nearest receptionist desk, across the other side of the room, shoving people aside as I went, and stopped just short of ploughing into the lacquered wood.

"I need to find a Renesmee Cullen, now," I told the plump, middle-aged woman behind the counter. Her eyes surveyed me sceptically and I sighed in exasperation. I knew that I was being rude and that my dad had raised me with better standards, but I just couldn't help myself. "It's urgent please?" I begged and she nodded curtly, before checking her computer screen briefly.

"Room 6, Emergency Ward," she said, and I flashed her a grateful smile as I took off running again. "Turn left," I heard her call after me, and altered my trajectory so that I was heading North instead of East. I saw a sign for the Emergency Ward, and followed them impatiently down several grey corridors. They seemed to be closing in around me as I fought my mind's natural instinct to panic. I just needed to stay calm.

Room 6. The sign above the door flashed past me before I could stop, and I skidded to a halt, before backtracking twenty metres up the corridor again. I hesitated just before I opened the door, afraid of what I would see, and then pushed it hard. It swung open and I stepped inside.

"Oh my God!"

**AN: Sorry it's short, but I hope you liked the unusual POVs. I promise I won't leave it so long before I upload next time. Remember, reviews are like pancakes and maple syrup. Thank you.**

**Charlotte-xoxo**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Ok, so now I'm going to do something a bit unconventional, and some people may not like it, but I think it will work better this way so I'll do and see what you think. It is a little more into the realm of fantasy and Hollywood drama than I might like but this way I can have a really beautiful ending to my story at some point in the future, just like I wanted when I started. Enjoy anyways…**

**PS. I know it's short, but my excuse is at the bottom as always. Love you all for putting up with me for so long, despite me being a failure.**

RECAP: Room 6. The sign above the door flashed past me before I could stop, and I skidded to a halt, before backtracking twenty metres up the corridor again. I hesitated just before I opened the door, afraid of what I would see, and then pushed it hard. It swung open and I stepped inside.

"Oh my God!"

NPOV

I breathed in deeply, as deeply as I could with what felt like a ton of bricks on my abdomen. It wasn't painful as such to breathe, just constricting. There was nothing in the vision but dark, empty blackness, and I got the strange feeling that I was floating in a nothing place, a nowhere. I tried to open my eyes, aware that their being closed might have been responsible for the blackness, but my body wouldn't respond to my request. Quickly, I began to test out other parts of my body for signs of life, but nothing happened. I was completely paralysed, floating in the middle of a silent, vast, black nothingness with no way of moving or escaping.

Maybe I was dead, I thought panickily to myself. My mom would be crushed if I was. I hadn't been able to tell her I loved her, one last time. I would be the second child she would have to bury, in the grey, lifeless cemetery just up the road from our house. She and my father never talked about that other child, to such an extent that I didn't even know her name, but I did know that I had destroyed a large part of her to have had to void the gap left by that faceless baby girl, whom my mother had always loved more than me. It didn't bother me so much anymore. Once I realised that that door in our house, the one which everyone ignored, was never going to be unlocked it didn't hurt to be second best quite as much. Of course, I knew mommy loved me, but I knew from an early age that I would never be able to completely fill that huge, gaping hole in her heart.

"She looks so pale, Edward," I heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like my mother's from nowhere in particular. I tried to move my head to look for the source of the impossible voice, forgetting momentarily that I was unable to move. I remembered again seconds later and sighed mentally since I couldn't move my facial muscles.

"She'll get better, Bells," another voice said soothingly. Now I was sure that something strange was happening, because that sounded exactly like my father's voice. Now, if I wasn't dead, then where was I? Almost as if she had heard my silent question, the ghostly voice of my mom answered me.

"I hope so. The doctor said her being in a coma was a good thing, right?" she said, and I could almost picture the expression that would spread across her face. She would look concerned, and almost scared, with a little dimple where her brows furrowed. She might even be biting her lip; she did that when she worried too. Daddy didn't like her doing it, but she couldn't stop doing it regardless. He thought it was a bad habit.

I realised then, with a spike of fear in the pit of my firmly unmoving stomach that I had been unconsciously referring to my parents in the past tense. That thought scared me more than I liked to admit and I shuddered metaphorically. I remembered the day a year or so ago that our English teacher, Prof. P, had taught us about metaphors and personification and stuff. It make me want to smile to imagine her reaction if I ever told her that I had used the word 'metaphorically' whilst in a coma, or even just whilst forming a sentence.

"Oh my God!" The exclamation from my mother's disembodied, yet utterly recognisable voice ripped me from my reverie and I focused in on the buzz of soft noise that was becoming more distinct as time passed. I wasn't sure how much time, but time nevertheless.

"Mrs Cullen, I just heard the news," a third, younger male voice said. I could vaguely recognise the rich, warm timbre of it, like it was distant memory that my soul was drawn instinctively towards, but I couldn't quite match a person to the voice at the moment. They spoke again, and I heard several hurried footsteps. "Oh Nessie, I'm so sorry!" His words confused me, maybe because they made no sense. Why was this familiar stranger apologising to me? What had he done? This coma hadn't been his fault… had it?

I wanted desperately to ask the voice one or all of the questions that filled my mind, but instead I was forced to remain silent whilst he continued to grovel to me from the blackness, just beyond my reach.

"I'm so sorry; I shouldn't have asked you to meet me. I should have met you at your house. I didn't think… I'm sorry, so sorry babe." Babe? The term sounded familiar, and the way it was spoken even more so. The voice sounded so caring and loving, as if he was feeling that care and love for me. Oh! Jay. The recollection punched me in the face, and I reeled from the embarrassment and guilt I felt as a result.

How could I ever have forgotten; Jay was, besides my mom and dad, my entire life and reason for living. He was the reason my heart beat, and my soul sang every time he was in the room. I could never forget him, and yet I just had. No, I'm so sorry, I thought. I was the one who should be apologising. I was despicable and undeserving of such unwavering love.

Then, I felt something warm and supple in the farthest corner of my mind. It was the first thing I had felt since I had turned up in this comatose darkness and I began feverishly searching out the source of it. My heart beat picked up automatically at the faint brush of warmth and I knew instantly what it was. Jay was here and he had his fingers entwined with mine. In that moment I could almost feel my fingers on that left hand he had a tight grip on and it gave me hope that maybe, just maybe this blackness wasn't permanent.

"Look, Edward," came my mother's agitated voice and I wondered what was wrong this time. "Look at the monitor." I heard some more movement around my consciousness, and then my daddy spoke up, sounding shocked and slightly winded.

"But, that's impossible," he breathed, and I wished irritably that they would just tell me what was happening. It was starting to become annoying to be kept in the dark about everything that was happening, if you'll pardon the shockingly awful pun. "She can feel him there; she can feel him." He sounded like he was about to cry, which was unlike my dad, who never cried. They must have been really worried.

"Nessie?" There was Jay again, the most wonderful and dedicated boyfriend a girl could ever wish for. "Can you hear me? Oh honey, I'm here for you. I will be for as long as I need to be." Could he be any more perfect, I asked myself, and I knew instinctively that if I had been conscious at that moment I would be sobbing by now. He was just too perfect. "You hear me, babe? I'll be here for you, no matter what."

**AN: I lied, okay. I said I would make it longer, but I literally don't have the time at the moment. If you guys don't want to wait a month between chapters you'll have to put up with my tiny chapters for one more month, or there abouts, until my exams are over for good. Then I have two and a half months to do nothing but read and write, so look forward to it. Until then, peace out.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: This is as much as I could find time for, in the middle of my exams, but I hope you like it. It is a bit angsty, but I need to get this out of the way before I can move on, so enjoy.**

RECAP: "Nessie?" There was Jay again, the most wonderful and dedicated boyfriend a girl could ever wish for. "Can you hear me? Oh honey, I'm here for you. I will be for as long as I need to be." Could he be any more perfect, I asked myself, and I knew instinctively that if I had been conscious at that moment I would be sobbing by now. He was just too perfect. "You hear me, babe? I'll be here for you, no matter what."

BPOV

I sat in stunned silence, watching through tear-filled eyes as the sweetest boy on the planet poured his heart out to my baby girl in that hospital bed. She had looked so peaceful, giving us no indication of life… or pain, and despite the serene expression on her face I had been in turmoil. I had no way of knowing how much pain she was in, no way of helping her, no way to shoulder any of her suffering. If I could have done it, I would and I knew that Edward would have too. Now, if there had been any doubt left in my mind before, I knew that Jay felt exactly the same way too.

That knowledge, combined with the stunning revelation helped me to feel the tiniest sense of calm and allowed my mind to let other thoughts in. Renesmee had experienced such a strong, positive reaction to Jay's voice that I finally began to let myself hope for that elusive recovery, however small and feeble that hope might be. Now, provided that Jay would be willing to stay with Renesmee for a while, I had to put an end to all the fear and the anxieties that had plagued me for most of my life. Edward and I were going to have to lay everything on the table, no matter how painful and heart-breaking it was for us, and begin to move past it together… or maybe not.

The thought came to me as a small whisper, a diseased ripple under the skin of my back, as my inner doubt began to attack my fragile self-control. I was going to have a meltdown if we didn't sort this nightmare out now but, if I was honest, I wasn't sure how much of our marriage would be left standing when the dust settled.

The terrible fear of losing Edward ripped through me like a rusty blade, hacking at my resolve, and I almost didn't move. Then, glancing once more at Renesmee, I made my decision. There wasn't just the two of us in this family now, we had Renesmee, and I needed to move on from the past to be there for her if… no, when she woke up. I stood up, startling Edward, and walked quickly over to where Jay was knelt beside Renesmee's bedside, whispering over and over that he was here for her. My heart swelled with love for this boy, who reminded me so much of Edward in his wholehearted devotion for the girl he loved, and laid my hand gently on his shoulder.

"Are you alright, Mrs. Cullen?" he asked, starting to move away from Renesmee and stand up. I hurriedly motioned with my hands for him to stay where he was, not wanting to disturb him. I realized, from the concern clouding his young face and making him seem much older than his seventeen years, that I must look awful and hurried on with what I wanted to say.

"Yes, I'm fine." I paused, and he seemed as if he wanted to speak, so I ploughed on regardless. "I was wondering if you would stay with Renesmee for the rest of the afternoon. Edward and I have a few things that we need to sort out at home, and I didn't want her to be alone." I smiled kindly at him as his face lit up and I knew that my request wouldn't even be an option for him. He was prepared to stay forever, if he needed to.

"Of course, Mrs Cullen," he enthused, nodding his head vigorously. "I was planning to stay anyway… as long as you would let me." I realized then what he had been thinking and immediately felt awful. He had been worried that Edward, or even me, was going to throw him out. How could I have been so thoughtless?

"Thanks, Jay. Alice will be here at around five to check on her, but feel free to stay as long as you want. You are welcome here any time." He smiled widely again, and then turned back to kneel beside the bed, still holding Renesmee's hand gently.

"Thanks, Mrs Cullen," he said over his shoulder. Then he paused, and seemed to think for a moment, cocking his head slightly to the side. "Would it be okay if my dad visited a couple of times?" he asked uncertainly. I hesitated, glancing back at Edward who was glaring daggers at the back of Jay's head. Turning back to Jay I knew what I had to do, despite how angry it would make Edward.

"Sure, why not." I heard the audible gasp of disbelief from behind me, but ignore it. "Oh, and call me Bella," I said firmly, turning back towards Edward. I had done nothing wrong, yet Edward's knuckles were white from being clenched around the arm of the chair, and his expression was one I recognized only too well, although I rarely saw it. He was livid.

I held out my hand to him as I reached the chair he was hunched in, and he turned his gaze slowly to stare blankly at it, unseeing. Frustrated, I took control and grabbed his forearm, pulling him forcibly to his feet. I couldn't lift him entirely on my own, he was just too heavy for my fairly petite frame to budge without help, but seeing the hurt on my face he cooperated and stood up the rest of the way. Then, I released his arm and began to head for the door.

"We're leaving her with… him?" I heard his voice ask in disgust, tinged with confusion and the anger I could already see in his eyes.

"Yes, we are. We need to talk, now." With that, I left the small, comfortable room and strode purposefully down the halls of Forks Hospital towards the car park and Edward's Volvo. Edward, despite his reluctance, followed me down the long corridors and into the small, confining space of the car. Neither of us said anything as I drove us back to the house. It was further proof, if we needed any, of the rift forming between us that he didn't even argue at me being in the driver's seat. He hated anyone else driving his car normally, kicking up a tantrum worthy of a five-year-old whenever I tried.

Once I had parked the car on the gravel outside the house and turned the engine off, we both climbed out and walked up the steps side by side, yet completely silent. Edward's silence was scaring me, making me nervous as to what I would say once we were inside, but there was nothing I could do to change that. I had started something, a chain reaction of sorts, and I was now powerless to do anything but watch as events play out.

"What do you want to discuss, Bella?" Edward asked, seconds after closing the front door, in a voice that was as deadpan as his now lifeless face. The beauty and perfection of his features was still present, still seemingly carved out of pure, white marble, but the emotions that made the statue my Edward was gone. Staring at him, I could see nothing of the man that I loved in his pale features and harsh exterior. Tears sprang up, against my will, to my eyes, and I blinked repeatedly to try and clear them from my vision. This was not the Edward I had fallen in love with all those years ago, and I didn't know how to bring him back. All I knew was that I had to try.

"We need to talk about us," I said softly, and when he didn't even move a muscle I began to cry harder. "About all the things that we should have said but never did, about Jacob and Jay and Renesmee, and…" My voice cracked as I whispered the last word. "…her." As if I had punched him in the gut, Edward recoiled at the word, and pain overwhelmed his face. I sighed in relief, happy to see some emotion on his face that reminded me of the real Edward, even if it was the one that I would never wish upon him. I hated to see him in pain but, right now, pain was better than nothing. Then, I took a tiny, hesitant step forward.

"Please, we need to go back in there and end this, once and for all." I was aware that I sounded like a cheesy action movie heroine, but it was the only way I could sum up my feelings. "I need this, or I don't know what I will do." I picked up the bunch of keys that Edward had just put down on the table and rifled through them until I found the one that I was looking for. It was a tiny silver one, still shiny like the day we had bought it, through lack of use. I gripped it tightly in my left hand, and once again held out my right hand to Edward. He gazed into my eyes, right into the depths of my soul for an immeasurable moment, his bottomless emerald orbs boring into my dull brown ones, and then took my hand in his without a word.

Together, we walked through the empty house, and up the stairs until we were standing outside the one door in our house that was always shut, locked since before Renesmee was born. Now, today, we were going to open it and face the fear it held for both of us. I silently pushed the key into the lock, half expecting it not to fit, and then stopped. Looking up at Edward I asked him the only question I needed too right then.

"Are you ready?"

"I don't know," he said shakily, and I gripped his hand even tighter in my own. "I'm not sure if I can do this." I could see that tears were starting to fill his own eyes and spill down his cheeks, and I felt a sudden need to comfort him. I lent up onto my toes and pulled him down until I could wrap my arms around his shoulders and hug him tightly to me. He stiffened for a moment, then relaxed into me and enveloped me in his strong, solid arms.

We stayed like that for several moments, wrapped in each other's arms, and then he released me and sighed heavily.

"I'm ready," he told me, calmer than he had been for days. I nodded and returned my hand to the key hanging from the lock, turned it quickly and then pushed open the door. Then, we stepped inside together, and faced our past.

**AN: I know it's short, again, but I wanted to let you guys know I hadn't forgotten about you. My exams are nearly half over now, and I can't wait until they're done. Then, I will write my heart out for y'all, and make the chapters as long as I can. Hang in there, and review if you love me… or even if you hate me! Thanks.**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Hi guys. I'm so sorry for deserting you guys, and for over two months as well. I can't believe that I received new alert notices from people in that time too. Excuses are down below, but let me just say… I'm Back Baby! Short chapter this time, so I can get myself back into this story without ruining it. I hope I did this chapter justice, and if I did please leave me some love.**

**Song (Never done this before, but I had this song on repeat whilst I wrote this chapter. Listen at your peril… but no, it is a beautiful song.): Even Though You're Gone - Angelis**

RECAP: "I'm ready," he told me, calmer than he had been for days. I nodded and returned my hand to the key hanging from the lock, turned it quickly and then pushed open the door. Then, we stepped inside together, and faced our past.

EPOV

"I'm ready," I finally managed to choke out as my beautiful wife watched me with sympathy and fear warring for dominance in her bottomless brown eyes. Those unmistakable eyes and their involuntary honesty had been my constant companion for half my life and by now it was like her thoughts and emotions were being transmitted straight from her mind to mine. I didn't even have to ask her if there was something wrong now; I could tell from just a glance, which made this moment even more painful. I was struggling to hold back my weakness and my tears, and to see that Bella was experiencing the same pain was heart breaking. I wanted so badly to be strong for her, and for Nessie, so gripped me hand tightly in support as she turned the key in the lock and we stepped through the door.

The room was exactly the way I remembered it, with the sunny yellow curtains and baby blue walls that we had just finished before… before 'it' happened. There were still white sheets over all of the furniture we had bought in anticipation of our new arrival, and even a paint pot on the paint-flecked floorboards in the corner. I could remember the many happy, carefree days that the two of us had spent in this room planning and laughing and covering each other in paint. We never really laughed much these days, not as much as before anyway. I couldn't remember the last time that I heard Bella laugh properly, without catching herself and forcing and end to it. That guilt needed to end now, and this was the only way to make sure that happened.

Strengthened by my determination to restore my girl's happiness, I pulled Bella towards the nearest bulky mass under a faded white comforter and place my hand on it hesitantly as I looked back at Bella who was still clutching my hand.

"Is it okay if I take this off, baby," I asked slowly, not wanting to go too fast. All of these covers would have to come off in time, but Bella could take all the time she needed to get her head in the right place. Her panicked eyes locked with mine for a second, and I quickly withdrew my hand so as not to scare her. "Never mind, Bells, we can wait for a bit first."

"No, no," she said apologetically, and I opened by mouth to tell her that it was my fault for trying to rush her. It was always going to be harder for her than for me, having gotten so closely acquainted with… She shook her head vehemently, pressing her free index finger onto my lips and squeezing my hand that she was holding tightly. I got the hint, and closed my mouth. "No, Edward, we need to do this now. It's okay, I'll be okay."

"Are you sure Bella?" I asked, not convinced that she was doing this for the right reasons. I didn't want to hurt her, or us, by forcing her into something she didn't want to do.

"Yep," she sighed and hugged me around my waist. I looped my arm around her instinctively, and tucked my chin down until it rested snuggly on the top of her head. "But, Edward…" she mumbled into my shirt, and I pulled back so as not to miss what she was saying. "Can you do it fast, like a band aid? Do them all fast, as fast as you can, please?"

"I'll do my best," I promised, and took a deep, calming breath. Then I grasped the edge of the cover and ripped it off as fast as I could before sprinting towards the nearest shape, pulling that one off just as fast. The flying sheets and blankets tossed clouds of thick, stagnant dust into the air, and into my nose and mouth as I ran but I simply ignored it. It was childish to think of it that way because I was a mature adult, but in a way it was my way of trying to be the best I could for Bella. In my mind the faster I whipped off the covers was directly proportional to how highly Bella thought of me, so I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. I felt like hours, but within about thirty seconds I was draped in a dozen white and paint splattered sheets and all of the furniture had been revealed to the light for the first time in years. I skidded to a stop and spun around to see if Bella was okay.

She was staring at me, her eyes wide and unusually void of emotion. It was almost as if she couldn't work out what she was thinking, and I stared to rush towards her in a panic. Had I done it wrong? Was she going to break down? Then, as if a dam had broken inside of her she burst into a fit of laughter. I didn't understand; was she is shock.

"Oh God, Edward," she finally managed to say through her tears of laughter, as she gasped for breath. She coughed several times, presumably from the dust that was swirling in mini tornados around us, and then spoke again. "You look so funny with all those sheets on you, and you're covered in dust. Your hair's gone grey; you look like a ghost." She giggled once more, then her face dropped and the laughter stopped as abruptly as it had begun. I groaned, and staggered forwards as I tried to free myself from the tangle of sheets around my torso and feet. I recognized that face too well; it was Bella's regretful face.

"It's okay to laugh Bella," I told her as I reached her and lifted her chin to make her look me in the eyes. This was it, and I couldn't mess this up. I scrambled to think of the best way to express my thoughts in a way that would help her to see what I needed her to understand. "You can't feel guilty every time you laugh. She wouldn't want that, and you know it. She would want you to think of her, yes, but not at the expense of you being happy." I took another deep breath and then dived over the final obstacle, the one that I was most scared of myself. "Carlie wouldn't want you to live your life regretting your past. She would want you to be happy, Bella. She would want… she would want you to be at peace with yourself."

She gasped as I said her name, but didn't flinch away from me like I had been afraid of. Instead, she snuggled into me further, as if she was trying to bury inside my chest. Then I felt her nod into my stomach, and then she sniffed back her tears that were once again threatening to spill from her eyes.

"You really think so?" she asked hesitantly. "She wouldn't blame me for… for what happened?" Did she really have to ask that question? Silly, sensitive, beautiful woman. She really still thought, after all these years, that it was her fault.

"Of course not," I reassured her firmly, wiping away the moisture from her eyes and then my own with my thumbs. I hadn't even realized that I had been crying, but they were steadily streaming down my face in unison with Bella's own. I knew now that we weren't just talking about her past regrets anymore so I continued to calm her nerves further. "You couldn't have changed anything, darling. Neither of them was your fault, so don't let yourself think that. Not for one minute."

I led her over to the first thing had uncovered, a vintage oak dresser that Bella had thought was perfect for this room when she had found it in an antique shop all those years ago. We took our time touching it and talking about our memories and thoughts. Then, we moved on to another piece of furniture, and another, until we had talked through everything that was on our hearts and minds. During the next three and a half hours we discussed everything that we had never said to each other, and much more that we felt we needed to say, until finally I felt that I was calmer and more in sync with Bella than I had ever been before.

Eventually, we found ourselves curled up together on the wooden floor in one corner of the room, just sitting together in peaceful silence as I observed the room full of emotion and peace and memory that we had conjured together. I had my back against the wall and Bella was leaning against my chest with her eyes closed, lost in her own thoughts just as I was in mine. After another immeasurable period of time had passed I heard Bella's breathing even out and felt her heart rate slow as she drifted off to sleep. I picked her up as gently as possible, careful not to wake my sleeping angel, and carried her from the room and into our bedroom. Then I stuck out to make one quick phone call, to arrange something special for Bella that I knew would make her happy, before crawling under the covers with Bella. We were both still fully clothed but I didn't care. I was blissfully happy, and nothing could bring me down just now… not even mud stains on my bed sheets.

**AN: If you have managed to read this far, then thank you so much for reading. Whether you are one of my newer readers, or if you have been waiting in varying degrees of patience for such a long time, I apologize profusely for the massive gap in uploads. I have no excuse, only that life sucks. However, I can promise you that I will never make you wait this long again. I can't commit to a regular schedule due to work and such, but I promise to never leave it more than two or three weeks again. Thank you for sticking with me, and I promise that I am bringing this story to a close soon. I would say within the next six to seven chapters, depending on length.**

**Love you all, honestly,**

**Charlotte-xoxo**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Slightly sad, but we are very nearly at the end of this story. Therefore, I made this chapter as long as I could possibly make it. I hope you enjoy it.**

BPOV

I rolled over lethargically and stretched my arms out as far as they would go, in an attempt to loosen the tight knot in my neck muscles that came from sleeping in the same position for too long. I stretched further and further until I finally felt the pop of release as my muscles relaxed, accompanied by the pop of air bubbles in my bones bursting that Edward hated. He always told me that if I carried on doing that every day I would get arthritis, and if he had been here right now he would have grumbling his little heart out about it. Hang on… Where _was_ Edward?

For a moment I began to panic, until I heard the shower turn off in the bathroom. I had been so caught up in my own thoughts that I hadn't even noticed it was on. I kicked off the covers and was debating whether to go and offer to join him in the shower when I noticed that I was fully clothed and my clothes were filthy. What the hell? After a moment's confusion, since my mind obviously wasn't yet fully awake, I remember everything that had happened yesterday. Edward and I had ventured into our own personally graveyard of memories and had survived the event relatively unscathed. In fact, I felt calmer and happier this morning than I had for about ten years. The only thing that would make this day any better is if Renesmee could be here to share my happiness.

With that one thought my mood dropped like a stone, and my shoulders slumped. My baby girl was still in the hospital; I had no business being happy. I was a terrible mother, being more focused on my own issues than on her. If anything, God forbid, happened to her now I didn't know what I would do, and all of the soul-searching that Edward and I had done yesterday would be for nothing. I was still beating myself up in my mind when the ensuite bathroom door opened and Edward stepped out with nothing on but a towel around his waist.

"Morning Bella," he mumbled as he ran his hand through his wet hair, blinking droplets of water from where they had taken up residence on his eyelashes. Then he looked at me, really looked at me, and his expression suddenly became serious. "Baby, what's wrong?" He hurried over to the side of the bed and sat down at my feet, his eyes full of concern and love for me.

"Nothing," I lied, but he knew me too well for that to fly. He raised one eyebrow, as if to tell me that he knew I wasn't being completely honest, and I sighed in defeat. I could deny that man absolutely nothing, it was really quite pathetic. "It's just that I felt so happy this morning." He grinned, and I gave him a weak smile in return. "But then I remembered that Renesmee is in the hospital, and I felt so guilty for being happy."

"Oh Bella, Bella, Bella," he said softly, and wrapped me up in his bare chest. I snuggled up to him and it almost felt like I was back in high school again, just the two of us. But it wasn't, it couldn't be. I wouldn't have changed anything that had happened, because it had made me the woman I was today, but I did sometimes wish that life could be as simple as it had used to be. "Don't feel guilty about anything, Renesmee wouldn't want you to. She wants you to be happy just as much as I do, and she would hate to find out you sacrificed that happiness because of her."

"She's in a coma, Edward," I said, fighting the inevitable truth of his words with all the strength I could muster. I knew that he was right; I just didn't want to allow myself to believe it. "She could d…" I couldn't get the word past my lips, but Edward knew what I meant.

"Yes, she's in a coma, but the doctor says that she's a lot more stable than she was. She's going to live; it's just a matter of time now until she wakes up." I sniffed back a tear that was threatening to leak from my eyes and started to stand up, holding on to Edward's shoulder for support.

"Promise?" I whispered, sounding like a little girl again.

"I promise. Now come on, I made you breakfast." He grabbed my hand and began to drag me around the bed and through the door onto the landing. I giggled at the absurdness of the situation and pulled back to stop him as I remembered something.

"I'm still wearing my dirty clothes from yesterday," I moaned, and started to turn back towards the bedroom. "I need a shower, and clean clothes."

"No you don't," Edward countered with a smirk, but I wasn't buying it. I needed a shower, and I wanted a better reason than 'no you don't' before I would reconsider.

"Yes I do, Edward. I look like a mess, I feel like a mess, and…" I sniffed under my arm to emphasise m point, if a little childishly. "I smell like I spent the night in a sewer too." I lowered my elbow and crossed my arms stubbornly across my chest.

"I don't care, Bella, about any of that. I spent three hours this morning, whilst you were asleep, cooking your favourite breakfast and I don't want it to go cold when you're in the shower."

"Waffles?" I asked in an awed whisper. Edward knew better than anyone that there was nothing I wouldn't do for a plate of hot Belgian waffles with maple syrup. There weren't a common breakfast food where we lived, but when we could find them in the store we bought them. If he had them, my shower could wait. He winked suggestively at me, but infuriatingly didn't say anything else. Instead, he continued talking as if I hadn't even opened my mouth.

"Then later, I have a surprise for you. You will probably want a shower before that, so do you think that you can wait for a while before you change?" he asked, cryptically. I was aware, as was he, that in telling me all of that he hadn't actually revealed anything and that was so frustrating.

"Aw c'mon," I grumbled. I wasn't really annoyed, but I really hated not knowing anything so the suspense was killing me. "Give me something to work with here."

"Nope, now come on," Edward laughed, before pulling me once again towards the stairs. This time I didn't fight him, the prospect of waffles effectively cancelling out any argument I might have previously had against the idea of breakfast before showering.

A minute later the two of us stumbled into the kitchen, giggling like giddy school children. Edward led me over to the table and pulled out a chair for me to sit on. I thanked him for being such a gentleman and sat down quickly, eagerly looking around for some sign of the heavenly food stuff that I was craving. When I couldn't see any waffles or syrup anywhere, I looked up at Edward with a confused pout on my face.

"Waffles?" I repeated my previous question, and he leant down to kiss me lovingly. I deepened it eagerly, winding my hands quickly into his still damp bronze hair. Running a hand down his chest I realised that he was still dressed only in that low slung towel, and felt a jolt of something that I hadn't felt in a long time ripple up my spine. My husband really was still as perfect as when I had first fallen for him, and his beauty had simply increased with age. The cute face and muscular teenage physique had matured into a devilishly handsome face and perfect body with age. His bronze mop of unruly hair hadn't changed much though; it was still just as soft and chaotically perfect as it had always been. I was as attracted to my Edward now as ever, and I was now extremely aware of that fact. I sighed into the kiss and pulled him even closer to me, trying to melt into his perfection. Eventually he had to break the kiss, breathing heavily, and rested his chin on my forehead.

"Maybe later, love" he mumbled, and then seemed to remember what he had been doing before we both got a bit distracted. He straightened up and walked towards the oven, opening the door enough to allow him to pull a small tray out of it. "Now, I do believe I promised you waffles," he said as he turned around, allowing me to see the golden brown shapes that were piled up on top of the tray.

He brought the tray over to the table and placed them on a mat in front of me, then hurried off to the other side of the kitchen, returning moments later with a huge tray laden with orange juice, fruit, toast and… a brand new, unopened jar of maple syrup. My face must have looked absolutely shell-shocked because Edward laughed again, and then waved his hand slowly in front of my face to attract my attention.

"Wow," was all that I could say. The effort that must have gone into creating this spread was staggering. He couldn't have had more than a few hours of sleep to have had time to do this, and that made me feel a little guilty. However, in honour of Edward's request I swallowed that guilt and decided to enjoy the food instead. I picked up a plate of the tray and began helping myself to the food wordlessly.

"What do you think?" he asked, but he already knew.

"Thank you," I said simply, and then he started to eat too. During the next ten minutes I stuffed myself on perfectly cooked, crispy yet soft waffles, drenching them in far more syrup than I probably should have put on. After that I ate some of the fruit that Edward had painstakingly crafted into elaborate shapes. The melon balls were flawlessly round, and the cubes of strawberry, banana and apple were symmetrical to such an amazing degree of accuracy. I knew that Edward was very precise in the way he worked, but the amount of care that he had taken for my enjoyment was overwhelming.

"Thank you Edward," I managed to say over ten minutes later, after decimating the food that he had prepared. "This was so thoughtful. I don't know what to say…" I broke off. My thanks didn't really seem to be close to covering what I wanted to tell him, and I really didn't know how to best express my gratitude.

"Don't feel like you have to say anything, Bella." Edward stood up and edged around the table until he stood beside my chair. Then he bent down and enveloped me in another huge hug. "I love you, and I did it because I wanted to. You don't need to thank me for that."

"I do though," I whispered into his chest. "You're just so wonderful to me. I couldn't ask for a more perfect husband." He gently released me from his strong arms and pushed me back by my shoulders so that he could look me in the eyes, and then grinned mischievously.

"I would be worried if you could; I'd be doing something wrong. Now quick, you can shower now," he offered, holding out a hand to help me up. I took it and then stood up quickly. "You are going out in just over an hour, so you'd better be quick."

"Huh? Where am I going?" I asked, but I was more or less resigned to the prospect of more surprises by now. Sure enough he shook his head and tapped his nose secretively.

I took the hint and hurried off upstairs to take a quick shower. I had to strip off my jeans which were caked with dust, which took a while, but I made it downstairs with just a few minutes to spare. As I walked into the living room I was shocked to see that Edward wasn't the only person in it. I clearly hadn't heard the doorbell ring, or they had knocked, but now Alice and Rosalie were sitting on my patchwork sofa waiting for me. When they saw me come in they jumped up and hurried over, smothering me in hugs and kisses. Then I was pulled towards the door before I could even open my mouth to ask why they were here.

"Bye, Bells, have fun," I heard Edward call as we hurried out of the front door, and then I was being ungainly thrust into Alice convertible, before having the door shut in my face when I tried to protest.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked, when we had peeled out of my street and onto the main road towards town. "Where are you psychos taking me?"

"Oh Bella, it's not that bad," Alice sighed, but did deign to explain eventually. "We are taking you for a little R&R this afternoon. Edward and Jay are going to be with Nessie for the… so no worries there either, but he promised to call if there's a... we're going shopping, and then for a man... After we might…"

"Whoa, whoa, Alice," I shouted over Alice's high pitched word vomit. She was speaking so fast that I had missed half of what she had said. I was used to never being able to keep pace with her, but it didn't help when her mind and mouth where motoring along at twice the speed of my own brain. "Repeat that last fifty words or so, but slower," I urged, and she let out an exasperated groan. Alice still had trouble understanding that normal people couldn't process things as fast as she could. Jasper was a life saver in these sorts of situations, having lived with Alice long enough to be able to translate most of it, but when he wasn't around it was impossible to try.

"I said… we are going for mani-pedis at the spa in Seattle, but first we are going shopping," she said extremely slowly, enunciating every word as clearly as she could like I was an imbecile. "I also said that Jay and Edward were visiting Nessie today so they could ring if there was a problem. Which there won't be," she added as an afterthought.

"Thanks Alice, but I'm not stupid. Just not superhuman like you and Jasper." I decided to ignore her blatant abuse of that nickname for Renesmee I loathed, and she didn't seem to notice that she had even said it.

"Whatever, just have fun okay?"

"Sure," I agreed. If this was what Edward wanted then that was what I would do. I would try to make up in some small way for all the wonderful things he had done for me over the past few weeks by enjoying myself as much as I could.

"Good," Rosalie enthused from the driver's seat, then threw the car into reverse and parked it in a space that I hadn't even noticed was there. I got out of the car to find myself in the large car park out in front of the large shopping mall a few miles outside Seattle. Rosalie and Alice linked their arms with mine on either side of me, and then we marched towards the large glass double doors.

Once inside it was like I had entered a completely separate reality, inhabited only by us and mountain upon mountain of clothes. We simply gave in to the beauty that was shop trawling and lost ourselves inside the first shop we came to. Four hours later we staggered out, burdened with mounds of shopping bags but over six hundred dollars each lighter, and piled all of our purchases into the car. We were giggling uncontrollably about something that we couldn't even remember, but all of us swore was beyond hilarious. I felt on top of the world, and knew that if Edward could see me now he would be so proud.

Suddenly Alice's phone started singing the Power Puff Girls theme tune to itself in her pocket and reality came crashing down like a brick wall. We all got very quiet very fast as Alice answered the phone and listened intently to whatever the person on the other end of the phone was saying. As I watched, her face fell almost imperceptibly and my blood began to freeze in my veins. What was wrong? Was it Renesmee? I waited impatiently until eventually she pulled the phone from her ear, and pressed the 'end call' button.

"Don't panic, Bells," she said even before she turned around to face Rosalie and I, just as if she already knew what my thoughts would be. Which she probably did, the damn physic little pixie that she was. "We do, though, need to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Edward says he's sorry that we had to end our girl's day out early, but he thought that you would want to be there."

"What are we waiting for then?" asked Rosalie, in typical hot-heated Rosalie fashion. She already had the car door half way open by the time she finished speaking, and Alice and I hurried to follow her. Then we were once again speeding down the road in the opposite direction of the spa, instead towards the hospital. I still wasn't one hundred percent sure that Alice wasn't lying to me, but I was content to cling to the hope that nothing was wrong.

One we had parked up in a very convenient space right beside the entrance to the hospital we all piled out of the car, and inside. Unlike the vast, sprawling hospitals that you find in large towns and cities, our local hospital was just big enough to be able to support Renesmee's needs without being overly large. Therefore, we were able to quickly find our way back to her ward without any problems, and then I threw myself straight into Edward's arms.

"Is everything okay?" I asked breathlessly.

"Yes…yes, nothing's wrong. The doctor would just like to try something. He can explain it better than me." Edward pointed me towards a tall, Afro-American man dressed in white doctor's slacks and I gave him my full attention.

"As your husband said, it is now possible for me to attempt to revive Renesmee from her coma. It is not always successful, but I feel that I could be worth a shot." The man looked solemn, but like he knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Is it safe?" I asked, that being the only question that jumped to mind at that moment.

"Of course, there is an element of risk with any medical procedure relating to patients in intensive care. However, this particular process carries a very low level of risk, and if it should fail her condition should not worsen," he said softly, and I instantly felt reassured.

"And what do you think?" I asked, this time directing the question at Edward. After all it was his decision too, and I wanted him to have his own say.

"I am happy with it, but if you aren't that's okay with me too," he said entirely unhelpfully. I sort of wished that he would tell me what he wanted, but I appreciated that he wanted me to have the choice.

"Alright," I agreed after a few minutes deliberation. "Do what you have to." The doctor nodded, giving me a friendly smile, and turned to retrieve something from a drawer beside the bed. He walked around the other side of the bed and inserted a large syringe into one of the large array of tubes that surrounded Renesmee's bed. I watched as the thick yellow liquid made its way slowly, agonisingly slowly down the tube.

"How long will it take… if it works?" I asked as the thought occurred to me. I hoped that it was quick. That way we would know if it worked soon.

"About ten minutes, give or take," he said, and my heart leapt automatically. I made my way around to the side of Renesmee's bed carefully, avoiding snagging my leg on any of the trailing wires, and knelt down beside it to take her hand. Then we waited…

I was watching Edward, whilst he stared back at me, so intently that it took Alice's squeal to break me out of my trance. I blinked in confusion, and then looked down to see what she was so excited about. A pair of piercing green eyes, just like her father's, stared up at me.

"Renesmee," I whispered, and then burst into tears as she flashed me a weak smile. My baby was awake.

**AN: Okay, so that is the official end of Greek to Grandad. It has been a very long time in the making, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. If not, then I apologise. However, I do plan to write two or three outtakes to bring the story to a proper end. The more astute among you may have noticed that the title has not been fulfilled yet, so I do intend to rectify that in due course. Much love, and again review if you have a moment.**

**Charlotte-xoxo**


	14. Chapter 14

RECAP: I was watching Edward, whilst he stared back at me, so intently that it took Alice's squeal to break me out of my trance. I blinked in confusion, and then looked down to see what she was so excited about. A pair of piercing green eyes, just like her father's, stared up at me.

"Renesmee," I whispered, and then burst into tears as she flashed me a weak smile. My baby was awake.

**Epilogue I – Never been surer of anything…**

EPOV

"Bella, I really don't think that I can do this," I said whilst stubbornly refusing to move from my current position, curled up in the fetal position on the couch. My beautiful, and incredibly patient, wife sat across from me on the very same cream loveseat that I had been sitting on when this whole nightmare started. She had her chin in her hands and was smiling radiantly down at me as I watched her out of my one open eye. The other was clamped firmly shut in protest, and I was determined not to move no matter what she said.

"Edward, don't you think that you are overreacting, just a little bit?" she asked, in the sweetest, most kindly voice in the world. She was so patient with me, even when I was acting like a stroppy, immature child. I knew that if anyone else was a witness to this meltdown they would laugh in my face, but she sat so stoically beside me it was impossible to not to fall even more deeply in love with her than ever before (if that was even possible, considering the fact that I would have died for her before any of this had happened).

"No," I answered, although I could see that she might have a point. "I just don't see why they have to take things so damn fast. We almost lost her once and I don't want to lose her now that we are finally starting to get life back to normal." Nessie had made an unprecedented recovery from her accident and had been back living at home with us for nearly six months now. It was remarkable because the doctors at the hospital had told us that there was next to no chance of her ever walking again, yet seven months on from coming out of a coma she was now walking almost unaided by people or her crutches. That milestone had then been the catalyst for this new cacophony of horrors, and had also, inversely; led to me being curled up and acting like a baby in front of Bella.

"It's not like she's never going to see us again Edward, you Muppet," Bella laughed, and moved to sit on the couch beside my head, pulling me onto her lap and stroking my hair gently. "This is what she wanted, the reason she has been trying so hard to get her independence back. You know that!"

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean that I need to like it," I reasoned, although more for my benefit than hers because I still wasn't convinced. "She's far too young!" Bella just shot me a knowing smirk and pointed towards the hall and the stairs. I stood up with a sigh, and was on my way out of the room before she even had time to open her mouth. As understanding as Bella was, by now I knew that I should do what she said without argument because she was normally right and that our conversation was effectively over.

"I put your suit out on your bed for you Edward," she called after me as I started the long, arduous climb up the stairs to confront my worst nightmare in that blasted monkey suit. "And please try to relax, baby."

Less than forty-five minutes later I was clean, freshened up and in my Volvo on the way to the one place I never wanted to be. Bella's father, Charlie, had arrived just before I had left and Bella was going to drive with him whilst I picked up Nessie from where she was being held hostage by Alice and Rosalie. Apparently it was traditional or something, but I don't remember that before. Bella certainly hadn't had that torture imposed on her back in the day. That mental image brought back a flood of memories from my youth, of Bella and I in the early days of our relationship, and I almost didn't notice where I was driving because I knew where I was going only too well in this small town.

A flash of pink just in front of my car wrenched me from my daydream and I slammed on the brakes just in time to avoid running down my oaf of a brother, Emmett, who had obviously decided I needed scaring out of my mind and had just stepped out into the middle of the otherwise empty street. My heart was hammering its way through my chest as I pushed open my driver's side door and let rip at the idiot.

"What the hell Emmett, I could've killed you. Why didn't you wave or anything?" I knew that I was being bitchy but an incident like that would have really ruined the day.

"I did, Eddie, I did," he replied jovially, an annoyingly cocky smirk plastered across his face. He gestured wildly at the ground at his feet to make his point to me, since I was acting a bit dense. "I've been standing right here for nearly ten minutes, but you were completely out of it. You didn't even see Rose and she is hard to bloody miss today, mate."

I blinked in confusion and looked up to see the brightest dress in history wrapped around my sister-in-law's body. It was a shocking shade of violet, with a little fascinator to match. She looked like an extremely shapely grape, and I didn't understand how I could have missed that. I hadn't been that preoccupied, had I? I occurred to me then that perhaps I was a little distracted today, and with good reason. I decided to not argue, which was swiftly becoming my policy for everything today, and made amends instead. I wasn't even going to complain about Emmett's use of my ever loathed nickname today, I just didn't seem important anymore with all the other things I needed to remember to say and do.

"Sorry bro," I offered quietly, patting him on the back. "I guess I'm just a bit distracted." To my surprise he pulled me into a bone crushing bear hug, and laughed.

"No worries. Its understandable today, and speaking of today we need to get going. Nessie is ready and waiting for you. Alice has done her proud."

"Thanks," I said after a moment, and then turned to see Alice making her way out of the only hotel in town; her arms weighed down with a pile of what I thought were makeup bags. I didn't take a second look at her, because a second later I saw Nessie come out from behind Alice, and my mouth dropped open. I mentally forced myself to shut it and then hurried over to delicately hug my baby girl. She looked so like her mother in that moment and looked so beautiful that I could help but hug her. I felt a tear threaten to escape from the corner of my eye and quickly stepped back to avoid getting it on her dress. Then I held out my hand and swept it grandly towards the tiny Volvo. I then frowned as I looked at it, regretting my decision not to hire a bigger car for the occasion.

"Don't worry about anything, Daddy," Nessie said softly into my ear and she put her hand gently on my forearm, and laid her cheek on my shoulder. "I wouldn't want this any other way, dorky little car and all." I gulped back the sappy comment I was about to make and smiled at her instead, before helping her carefully into the miniature back seat of my car. If she had been any taller she would simply not have fitted in, so small is the space back there. Then Alice and I hopped into the front and I started up the engine again.

Three minutes later we were circling the local church but we were ten minutes too early, so we took a little drive around the streets of Forks. It seemed odd to me how few people there were around, in cars or on the sidewalk, but I put that thought to one side because I didn't fancy nearly running anyone else over today. Finally Alice got a call that they were ready for us and then she hopped out and ran into the church to go and take up her reserved seat at the front. Then I drew up right outside the double doors of the church and helped Nessie out again. Once we were sure that her dress was perfect and I had reassured her at least nine times that there wasn't a hair out of place, we made our way leisurely into the church.

As we stood in the foyer just inside the entrance, experiencing an unexpected calm before the storm, I asked her one finally time the question I had asked almost every day for months.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Renesmee. You can change your mind right now and no one will judge you one iota, except maybe Alice for the time she spent on that dress." I cracked a joke and Nessie smiled lovingly at me before sighing and squaring her shoulders.

"I told you not to worry, remember Daddy. I know what I'm doing and I have never been surer of anything… or anyone." Then she laughed nervously, which was odd considering how calm she had previously seemed, took a deep breath and spoke again. "However… there is something else I should tell you first. Mom and Jay already know, but it's time now for me to tell you."

"What is it baby?" I asked, confused now. What could she possibly need to tell me that they already knew? My brow furrowed in concentration as I tried to figure it out. She looked me straight in the eyes and the mixture of fear and excitement confused me even more. Then, so abruptly that I jumped in alarm, the door of the main church opened and Nessie looped her arm in mine in preparation for the two of us to walk down that central aisle together. Nessie lent in, as the music started and we began our long walk to the altar, and whispered three words that made my breath catch in my throat and my heart skip a beat.

"Daddy, I'm pregnant."

**AN: Hey guys, I think I'm just about back now. I hope some of my readers will have waited around during my unexpected but hopefully understandable absence, but if you aren't reading this (pointless talking to you anyway, huh?) I understand that too. I will try to write as much as I feel able to over the next couple of months and I hope you will bear with me as I try to piece my life back together. Much love to all of you, new and old readers, who have taken the time to read my stuff and I really do appreciate it. Thank you.**

**P.S. This is the penultimate chapter of this fanfic, but Military Academy has a long way to go and I will upload a new chapter of that as soon as I can, but I do have fifteen exams in the next few weeks to make up for all the stuff I missed when I had a three to four month absence from life for reasons that are explained in the previous upload.**

**Charlotte-xoxo**


	15. Chapter 15  Final Chapter

**AN: Final chapter of the 'G to G' saga. Enjoy, and again I'm so sorry it took forever.**

RECAP: "Daddy, I'm pregnant."

**Epilogue II – At Journey's End**

JayPOV

_As I sit here watching my beautiful and heavily pregnant wife I truly cannot believe my luck. We have now been married slightly over eight months, and those eight months had been, without a doubt, some of the greatest of my life. That day that she finally joined me at the end of that aisle, and said those two timeless words to make her mine forever, was the second best day in that life. However, the best day by far has to have been three days before the wedding when Nessie told me that we were expecting a baby. The realisation that I will, one day soon be a father has made me the happiest man alive, and finally convinced me that I am ready to be the man that my wife deserves for me to be._

I paused mid-flow, as the car we were travelling in continued to speed down the freeway, ballpoint pen poised thoughtfully over the page whilst I pondered how best to describe my emotions and feelings as concisely as possible in this small notebook. I hoped that I would one day be able to fill the rest of the, as yet mostly empty diary with observations and memories of our lives with our child, but I instinctively felt that I needed to document this day.

_Now, eight months later, we are still unbelievably happily married and have less than two weeks before two finally becomes three. It might seem cliché to some for me to say that I have everything I could have ever dreamed of, but in this case I believe it to be true. I look forward to whatever the future may bring and I pray that throughout life will be good to us._

"Are we nearly there yet, mom?" I heard my wife ask from her seat beside me, pulling me instantly from my thoughts. The notebook snapped abruptly shut and I looked up to see her looking excited but pale. I felt a wave of unease settle over me even before she spoke her next words. "I feel a bit queasy."

"We won't be more than five minutes, baby," came the reply from the front seat, not from Nessie mother but instead from her father. Edward was already driving quite a bit faster than was perhaps sensible, both because Alice would hang him if we were late and because no one wanted Renesmee to be on the move any more than necessary. We were on our way to a Seattle hotel, where Alice and her husband Jasper were renewing their marriage vows for what seemed like the umpteenth time, and the only reason Nessie was even going was because she had refused to be left behind. So, like I had learned was common practise when it came to all of the Cullen women, she got her own way and off we all went in her parents family-sized car. It wasn't a long journey, from Forks, but most of us were still worried about her travelling at eight months pregnant.

"Are you okay?" I asked, with concern obvious in my voice as I reached over to take my wife's hand in my own.

"Thanks dad, and yes I'm fine. I just want to get there and get out of the car." She smiled reassuringly at me and then at her father, who was driving but had taken his eyes off the road to look back to see if she really was okay. Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, but I took her word for it. If she said she was okay I would believe her, unless I saw anything to suggest otherwise. I nodded and returned the smile, as if to show her that I was allowing her the benefit of the doubt, but still couldn't quite shake the discomfort creeping up my spine.

Eventually, despite my misgivings and doubts, we arrived in the parking lot of the hotel and piled out onto the asphalt. After adjusting dresses and primping had occurred in earnest we made our way inside, where the incorrigible Alice Whitlock had once again proved that she could do one better than last time. The hotel lobby alone was, even to my distracted psyche, one of the most amazing rooms I had ever set foot in. Crystal chandeliers, of which I could count at least four in just the one room, showered the marble floor with tiny flecks of golden light, which made everyone and everything look like it was bathed in a range of golden hues.

Nessie, who had that incredible youthful look that is typical of pregnant women, looked like she was positively glowing as I watched her greet our beaming hosts, her aunt and uncle. Both were immaculate in their respective suit and purple dress and I smiled in amusement as Jasper winked at me over Nessie's shoulder, knowing exactly what I was thinking. A true man's man, Jasper, like me I guess, was much more comfortable in jeans than a suit, and I could imagine the effort required on Alice's part to make him wear a monkey suit for the occasion. Although, I though wryly, Alice could be pretty intimidating when her plans were threatened; Jasper probably wouldn't stand a chance against her.

"Hey man," Jasper said jovially as he moved around Nessie to hug Edward and give me a fist pump in greeting. I was not a hugging kind of guy, unless I was alone with my wife that is, and I liked how this family respected that without question.

"Right back atcha," I replied, deliberately copying his Texan twang badly because I knew it annoyed him. He laughed and punched my shoulder, then proceeded to make small talk with us for a few minutes before Alice pulled him away to speak with some other guests who had just arrived. Soon enough we had been seated by a tuxedoed usher inside the grand ballroom, which was bigger than both stories of our house, laid out flat, and adding the garden in for good measure. The room was packed too, testament to just how popular the two of them were, and people kept on arriving right until the ceremony began.

Alice and Jasper kept it simple this time, apparently the polar opposite to the opulent affair Nessie had told me about from five years before, resighting their marriage vows once again and then reading poems that they had written to remind each other of their commitment and love. It really was heart-warming to watch and gave me idea of what Renesmee and I might consider at some point in the future. Alice had just finished reading her poem, tears glistening in the eyes of almost every woman present, when I heard a small whimper from beside me, followed by a gasp of pain.

"Jay?" Nessie whispered as she reached out to grab my hand, her voice sounding terse and strained. I turned in my seat to see her face had gone deathly pale, paler than when we were in the car, and her lips were twisted into a pained grimace. Her nails were digging into my hand I later found, from the crescent moon shaped indentations she had left in my thumb and palm, but in that moment I didn't even notice.

"Yeah, honey, I'm here. What's wrong?" I asked, trying furiously to keep my voice steady. I had a good inkling of what was happening, but it didn't stop the panic unfolding inside my mind. It was too soon!

"The baby, it's…" She couldn't finish the sentence as another gasp of pain escaped her, causing her to clutch her stomach instinctively, but she had confirmed my own suspicions. I rose from my seat, causing several people behind me to hiss irritably, but I didn't care. I helped Nessie gingerly from her seat, and nudged Bella who was sitting on her other side. She turned, looking slightly peeved at being disturbed, but took only one look at the scene developing before she too was on her feet and getting Edward's attention. He was sitting on the end of the row so, once he was aware of what was going on we had clear access to the aisle and the exit. Rushing towards the back I heard Alice calling after us from the front of the room, then the sounds of two more sets of footsteps joining the stampede, but I didn't stop to acknowledge that they had abandoned the ceremony. My only thoughts were of Nessie, and the soon to be little one who had chosen an inopportune moment to burst into our lives.

"It's going to be okay, darling. It's going to be okay," I heard Nessie's parents telling her, creating a continuous chant as we burst through the double doors into the lobby. Whilst they were occupied with her I looked around for someone to help us, finally spotting a harassed looking bellboy standing over by a luggage cart. I motioned him over and asked him if there was a phone around that we could use, because we needed an ambulance. He looked up at me in alarm as I spoke, but led me around behind the empty front desk. I guessed that all of the check-in staff had been given the afternoon off whilst the wedding took over the whole hotel.

I picked up the phone, immensely grateful when I heard the dial tone although I knew the chances of there being none were remote. It was a scenario that had plagued my nightmares for months and, despite the fear being entirely irrational, I was relieved to hear that small whine that told me the phone was indeed working. I punched in 911 with a shaky hand, and then proceeded to navigate the switchboard to get through to the correct service operator. I gave them the information that they required and then hung up to get back to my wife as quickly as humanly possible. Then I was back beside her as she sat, in a chair the lone bellboy had found from the office, right in the centre of the massive room.

By this time Alice and Jasper were crouched beside Nessie's parents around the chair, and several guests had spilled out of the ballroom to see what was happening, but they all parted like the Red Sea as I approached to allow me to kneel directly in front of her and take her hands.

"Hey Nessie, how are you doing?" I asked, giving her fingers a tight squeeze and reaching one of our interlocked hands to brush away a strand of damp brown hair from where it hung across an eye. She locked eyes with me, relief flooding her beautiful face as she recognised that I was there, and smiled weakly before answering.

"Not bad," she croaked, then grimaced as another spurt of pain wracked through her body. "I've had worse." I couldn't help but laugh at her weak attempt at humour, despite the contradictory tears that trickled unbidden down my cheeks.

"That you have," I agreed, and then the smile faded from my face as I remember the events of only months before. "You got through it last time, didn't you? We'll get through it this time!" I was reassuring myself more than her, but there was still an element of doubt that niggled at my resolve. The doctors had told her that, due to her accident, there could be potential complications for her giving birth, but I didn't want to think about that. She had recovered against the odds last time, and I had to have faith that she would pull through this time.

"Paramedic!" someone called from behind me, and I heard Bella sigh in relief to my left. Alice pushed herself up from her position to my other side and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her hurry over to the ambulance that had just arrived and begin gesturing widely as she explained the situation to the paramedic. They soon joined us beside Renesmee, and then I was being moved aside to allow room for him to do his job. He began talking to her, asking her something about contractions and timing, but I wasn't listening. I was watching her face. Even in abject pain and discomfort, she was still the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes on.

"Okay, who is the father?" the man asked after a moment or two, and my head shot up in recognition.

"I am," I replied, at exactly the same moment that Edward said the same thing. I guess we were both entitled to answer that question, really. The paramedic just nodded, and gestured for us to help him lift Nessie out of the chair and support her weight as she staggered to the ambulance. Two more paramedics were waiting outside to help her inside, and then the two of us climbed up after her.

"We'll see you at the hospital," Bella called to us with a wave, just as the door was about to slide shut, and then she, Alice and Jasper were rushing to Jasper's car so that they could follow us. "Look after my baby for me."

The rest of the journey to the hospital was a total blur as I found Nessie's hand once again in mine, and this time she was not made to let go as the wheelchair she had been seated in on the ambulance was wheeled down a ramp and into the hospital. I remember racing down corridor after corridor, a nurse coming, leaving and returning with a doctor, then we were in the delivery room and Nessie was screaming. I just gripped her hand and told her, over and over, that she was okay, as the doctor told her to push. Then, just when I thought my brain was completely operating in autopilot, I heard the sound of a baby crying.

My head snapped up so fast I probably ought to have whiplash, and there I could see the single most miraculous thing in the universe. My beloved wife, despite being exhausted and on the verge of passing out, reaching out to accept a tiny bundle of life wrapped in a white blanket. I could see a tiny pink hand reaching out from the swaths of cloth, and inside laid the most beautiful human being in existence.

My son, the doctor told me, was healthy and so was his mother, but I didn't really need him to tell me that. I could see him for myself, and he was perfect. I quickly pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed so that I could see him better, and what I saw took my breath away. He had a thick shock of jet black hair already, just like mine, but his eyes were the bright green of his mother and granddad. Said granddad was hovering over my shoulder with Nessie's mother, tears streaking down his cheeks as he watched the two of them in the bed.

Nessie looked up at me then, and held out the bundle to me. Leaning forward I took it carefully from her, supporting the head gently as the doctor showed me, and then my son was nestled in my arms as I gazed down in awe. He really was the most perfect thing, and I couldn't speak or look away. I handed him back to his mom a few minutes later, but left my index finger stroking his own tiny hand because I couldn't bear to let him go completely. I was aware that Alice, Jasper, her other aunt and uncle Rosalie and Emmett, and several other people I had seen at the hotel pass through, cooing appreciatively, but I didn't pay them any notice. I never once took my eyes off my son for the next two hours, until the doctor returned once more to tell me that visiting hours were now over. However, he allowed us to have one last visitor before I, and Nessie's parents left, when my own father hurried in five minutes later.

He had driven down from home as soon as he had heard, which he informed me had been from Edward, since I hadn't bothered to call him. I apologised to him profusely but told him that I had been unable to leave the bedside since arriving, hoping he would understand.

"Don't worry son, I understand," he told me warmly, placing a hand on my shoulder as he moved to greet his new grandson, surprising me with his next words. "I felt the same way the day you were born." I felt the tears well up once again as he spoke, and then I stood up for the first time to embrace him fiercely.

"I love you, dad," I said earnestly, and he responded only by hugging me tighter. Then I leant over and kissed my wife tenderly on the lips, whispering: "I love you too, darling." She returned my sentiment with a smile as I pulled away and then I finally leant over to place a gentle kiss on my son's forehead. "And I love you too, Edward," I whispered, and immediately knew from the gasps behind us that the person who needed to hear that had indeed heard it.

"Edward," he whispered, his voice sounding awed and breathy, like the air had been knocked out of his lungs. "Did you say…?"

"Yeah dad," Nessie said softly, and I moved out of her eye line so she could look Edward Senior in the eye. "His name is Edward, after his amazing granddad." He choked back a tear at that and leant into kiss her and his grandson as I just had. I knew how much it meant to him in that instant and knew that we had made the right choice of name. It had been a unanimous decision, and it was obvious to all present exactly why.

"Edward," he repeated, as he returned to Bella's side and buried his face into her shoulder. "I promise you that I'm going to be the best granddad you could ever wish for."

Then we left to give Nessie and little Edward Junior chance to rest, me to a makeshift bed in the waiting room and the grandparents to their respective homes. As I settled down for the night I heard Edward saw one last thing to Bella as they left into the corridor.

"Jay is going to make the most amazing dad, don't you think?"

"Yes, he most certainly is," she replied, looking back at me as she exited the room. I felt a huge wave of gratitude and acceptance in my heart at their words and I vowed then and there that, no matter what, I would make them and my son proud.

**AN: There it is. It is finished. I took my good time about it, and for that I apologise, but it is finally at an end. To anyone who actually remembers the start of this epic-ish journey, and is somehow still here, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. And to those of you who are reading this for the first time recently I thank you too, and ask that you (if you feel so inclined!) would consider dropping me a review or PM to tell me what you thought of this story, its prequel, or anything else that pops into your head. I love hearing from you more than anything.**

**Charlotte-xoxo**


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